Factoids
- Thanks to the vortex in this episode, and the quantum slipstream in the last, Voyager has shaved about 2800 light years from their journey, almost 3 years. This means Voyager has traveled the equivalent of about 22 years since it began its journey. (10 years [Voy: The Gift] + 5 years [Voy: Year of Hell] + 2 years [Voy: Night, rounded down] + 1 year [Voy: Hope and Fear, rounded up] + 4 seasons of conventional warp = 22 years.)

Remarkable Scenes
- Kim's "echos of the void." Very nice music.
- Robot: "Citizen of Earth, surrender! Do not resist!" Seven: "I am Borg." She swiftly disables the robot. Seven: "The robot has been neutralized. May I leave now?"
- Janeway: "Time to take out the garbage."
- Voyager riding the shockwave through the vortex.

My Review
So Janeway finally realized that she made a mistake at the beginning of the series. But her redemption quest was equally short sighted. Seems Janeway is always looking for the quick fix. Fortunately, the crew manage to make her come to her senses, though I don't see why Janeway couldn't have just taught the aliens of this episode how to collapse the vortex themselves, perhaps give them some photon torpedos, then proceed peacefully through the vortex. Except that it would have made the episode less exciting and we can't have that now can we? ;) The Malon captain was a nice character, well portrayed in his luddite desire to preserve the status quo. History has shown us time and time again that conservative viewpoints are often self serving more than they are interested in serving the greater good. Mr. Emck was certainly no exception; he would rather pollute space because it makes him money than embrace new technology and allow it to better his society. Why improve society when you can exploit it? The message the episode sends is true to the spirit of Star Trek but the plot is unnecessarily bloated. The episode is average at best.

Fan Commentary (7)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Timmorn on 2011-04-26 at 4:47pm:No Problems?
What about the inhabitants of the void?

Where do they come from if there is nothing in this region?
From what ressources do they build their ships?
Where do they get their energy from and what do they themselves consume?

From Rick on 2013-01-07 at 1:08am:"History has shown us time and time again that conservative viewpoints are often self serving more than they are interested in serving the greater good."

Wow, thats a bold one. Maybe the word "sometimes" would work better than often there. Often sure does imply that if you are a conservative than you more likely than not are a duplicitous, self-serving asshole who doesnt care about the greater good (like the character in this episode). History has also shown that progressive viewpoints "often" have many unintended negative consequences that far outweigh the potential good.

From Adam on 2013-03-02 at 6:58pm:Problem: Why would the lights in the holodeck simulation go out as well? Makes no sense.

From Bronn on 2013-11-16 at 5:33pm:Adam nailed a big problem with this. Either the power supply for the holodecks is completely independent and incompatible with the rest of the ship, in which case the lights shouldn't stop working, or else it's not, in which case the lights should go off, and all projections in the room should shut down. I mean, the holodeck does NOTHING but create light projections, so why would the lights stop working while the holographic environment remains? It's so idiotic that Tom can use a holographic flashlight while there's no power for regular lightning. HOLOGRAMS ARE LIGHT, WRITERS!

Oh, but apparently the holodeck energy isn't incompatible with the rest of the ship, since Tom can reroute power to emergency subsystems from the holodeck. It's all...so...idiotic...it made me literally facepalm.

From L on 2014-04-17 at 4:44am:Star fleet practice capital punishment by hanging?
Or was she joking when she said they could all be hung for mutiny?

From attractionmagnetical on 2015-04-23 at 10:23pm:If the aliens who lived in the void evolved to "exist in complete darkness" without any natural radiation sources and whatnot... why do they have eyes?

From Mike on 2017-05-30 at 9:03pm:This one's got it all: eerily dark space, fascinating aliens, benevolent mutiny, and a funny holodeck spoof of the kind of 1950s sci-fi that eventually gave us Star Trek.

The resolution of Janeway's crisis isn't the kind of thing I could see happening on any other series, but I do think it was interesting having her spiral into remorse over her decision. As if all the time in this void has left her alone with her thoughts on it for the first time.

As for the void aliens: you make a good point, attractionmagnetical. They wouldn't need eyes if they evolved in total darkness. Then again, maybe they moved into the void long ago and had evolved eyes before that. And, maybe they live entirely aboard those vessels, which provide everything they need. Regardless of the problem areas, I think they're a fascinating species.

And this dilemma, to me, was Trek doing an environmental theme the right way as opposed to TNG: Force of Nature. Emck was a good character, although very short-sighted. After the briefing on Voyager, he was the only member of his species who understood how the to purify and recycle antimatter waste. The technology may have rendered his current business useless, but he could've made a killing as the foremost expert on the new technology among his people. Bad move, dude.

Great ending, too. Nicely shot with fitting music and a good moment on the bridge with everyone thankful to have come through the void and back on track.

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Problems
- Why didn't the Voyager crew extract other technology from One at the end like they did the doctor's mobile emitter?

Factoids
- Seven of Nine suggests that perhaps the Voyager crew should design and build a new shuttle. One that's larger and more efficient. Such a ship will be built in the next episode.

Remarkable Scenes
- The doctor: "Early bird gets the gagh!"
- The doctor: "I'm a doctor, not a peeping Tom!" Count 25 for "I'm a doctor, not a (blah)" style lines, which McCoy was famous for.
- Mulchaey discovering the Borgified science lab.
- Torres: "How many Borg hitchhikers are we gonna pick up on this trip? Maybe this is the Collective's new strategy. They don't assimilate anymore. They just show up and look helpless."
- One: "Joke. A verbal comment or gesture, designed to provoke laughter." The doctor: "I see you've got your mother's sense of humor."
- Janeway and Seven showing One what the Borg are all about.
- One boarding the Borg ship.
- One sacrificing himself.

My Review
A 29th century Borg inspired by the technology of the mobile emitter is an interesting idea; in a way the episode makes fun of Voy: Future's End for allowing a piece of 29th century technology to exist in the 24th century in the first place, which is something that rather annoyed me about Voy: Future's End's ending. I like a mobile doctor, but I dislike technology out of time. That said, I'm unsure how sacrificing One could possibly end the Borg problem. The raw material (the mobile emitter) still exists! Why would the Borg stop looking for the emitter technology after One died? Beyond this, the episode is mostly a Seven of Nine further explores her emotions rehash. While the episode is original and entertaining, I hesitate to give it a higher rating due to the logical and technical problems.

Fan Commentary (2)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From szycag on 2008-09-21 at 10:38am:"Why would the Borg stop looking for the emitter technology after One died?"

You assume the Borg collective was even able to assess the presence of the 29th century technology- also, for all we know, One could have sent false signals to the rest of the collective misreporting the whole series of events as a mishap, covering his tracks.

I know it probably wasn't written like this, and the mobile emitter was just a way to give the doctor more possibilities on the show, but I think in hindsight there's a good way to excuse bringing future technology into the show despite how many sci-fi rules it breaks. Voyager was integral in undermining the Borg... the point of origin for the series of events in Future's End could have been making sure Voyager secured the technology necessary to either aid in defeating the Borg or change history by making the Voyager mission successful. What set that whole thing into motion anyways wasn't really clear, but you could totally write up a big Q conspiracy around it.

From TheAnt on 2013-10-12 at 4:57pm:What made me jump when seeing this episode were Seven's comment: "I don't understand. The Borg assimilate, they do not reproduce in this fshion."

So call me a nitpicker on details or say that I am wrong, but I clearly remember seeing a Borg baby already in TNG.

The Borg is very good at assmiliating technology as a collective, granted, but I have a hard time beliving the Borg nanoprobes come with both intelligence and engineering skills, but that incredible and unbelievable idea is presented here or how else would they know how to utilize the 29 century technology from the mobile emitter?

Also I find it weird that they find it so strange that the early (here 'proto') planetary nebula is expanding fast.

Else from that I like some details of this episode, such as the mobile emitter sprouting nanotech roots in all directions.

And the absurd idea that Torres would have a viewscreen in the shower. So overall I give this episode one 8.

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Factoids
- This is the first episode to feature the Delta Flyer. (Obviously.)
- The Delta Flyer has "Borg inspired photonic missiles" in its arsenal.
- The orbital skydiving suit that Torres wears would have been used by Kirk at the beginning of Star Trek VII: Generations, but the scene was deleted.

Remarkable Scenes
- Torres' orbital skydiving and her subsequent conversation with Seven of Nine.
- Tom: "Well if we can't transport it out, we'll just have to fly in and grab it." Tuvok: "Perhaps you weren't paying attention when the Malon freighter imploded?"
- Tuvok and Tom arguing over "dynametric tail fins."
- Seven of Nine spying on the Malon ship.
- Chakotay's intervention with Torres.
- Torres' MacGyver'd forcefield.
- Torres: "Chakotay, what you did on the holodeck today... Thanks. But if you ever do anything like that again, I'll break your neck."

My Review
This episode ties up a few loose threads. First we have the return of the Malon, confirming that Voyager has not fully cleared their space, second we have the construction of that new shuttle Seven of Nine alluded to in the previous episode, and finally we have Torres doing some real grieving over the loss of the Maquis to the Dominion. Her grieving is a bit too late, but otherwise credible. This aspect of the story allows for some nice moments between Torres and Chakotay, though surprisingly not between Torres and Tom. The "space race" was a bit forced, but the action was convincing and entertaining. Overall, the episode was another fairly average one.

Fan Commentary (4)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Pete Miller on 2006-11-13 at 12:38am:I detest the 'Torres' character in Voyager. She reminds me of how Counselor Troi was in TNG. Always having episodes centering around her stupid emotional problems. I never have liked Torres and I never will.

This episode was your standard A/B plot; typical Voyager fare. I was pleased, though, that it featured Chakotay somewhat, something we will see less and less of, to Robert Beltran's displeasure.

Also, Neelix has begun to be phased out somewhat, along with Tuvok. It's really unfortunate that Braga and those assholes decided to start obsessing over the Janeway/Doctor/Seven trio and giving less attention to the other characters. I really thought Neelix and Tuvok were wonderful characters with all kinds of room for development. But then again, that's the story of Voyager: Unrealized potential resulting in infinite mediocrity.

From Rob on 2008-04-26 at 7:51pm:I have to agree with Pete: Voyager never reached its potential despite some powerfully entertaining episodes. It started right at the beginning when the tensions between Maquis and Starfleet personnel were ignored way too quickly, then we have Voyager's hidden factory producing all the torpedoes and shuttles they want completely undercutting the "we are all alone out here with limited resources" basis of the premiere, they continued the mistake by not showcasing the same "background/dayplayer" characters as if the population of Voyager was limited, and then finally they focused all of the attention on Seven of Nine until I was sick to death of the "Borg-implants save the day" plots.
However, at least they didn't hand the series' last episode to a different show, i.e. Enterprise!

From Bronn on 2013-11-24 at 11:39am:The issue isn't that this is an episode about Torres' emotional problems. That could actually be interesting since it's actual continuity. The problem is that she would have learned the fact of her friends' death long before this episode, but her emotional problems start and end in this episode. She's perfectly normal the week before, and she's perfectly normal again the week after.

If they had wanted to explore this, it would have made a great subplot, honestly. There's like 30 Maquis crewmen on board who have recently received news that all their comrades have died, except for the handful that Eddington managed to save. A lot could have been done with this. Even if they wanted to focus exclusively on Torres, they could have devoted a couple minutes in a few other episodes to showing her dangerous holodeck stunts, letting it build up until this episode when she's so detached that everyone notices. Heck, the opportunity was there-they did that whole "Captain Proton" thing for "Night," which was just a silly scene completely disconnected from the plot of that episode. The focus was on the Captain's emotional issues that episode, but it would have been a great opportunity to hint at what was going on with Torres as well.

From pbench on 2015-09-11 at 3:54am:now THERE's some amazing pacing. this is the voyager i have always wanted. dark mood lighting--serious emotional range that these actors KNOW they are capable of. continuity from previous episodes (seeing tom's boyish enthusiasm about archaic control schemes, b'elanna's preoccupation with her maquis friends/past), not taking huge unnecessary leaps in plot but focusing, honing in on a very simple but compelling scenario: not a merely violent encounter but a race to the finish.

this episode is phenomenal. i am surprised to see that kethinov said t was average, i was really pleasantly surprised by how serious the directing was for this episode, allowing actors more than the standard short shots to show facial responses, depth, etc. this feels like the seeds of what future, more melodramatic scifi would become, like BSG. very happy to see themes of suicide and depression dealt with as well, very real and important things to address.

i also think that while we all know it's a plot device to suddenly introduce her depression, anyone who's experienced or been around trauma knows that it does not manifest itself in obvious ways--and indeed, it can often lay underneath the surface of normal social pleasantries until it starts getting worse. then to others it seems as if it is sudden when it has actually been there the whole time. i thought it was clever of the writers to finally write in a plot point that wasn't a contrived ret-con but was actually plausible: underneath appearances, b'elanna was actually deeply affected by the news. and thank god she was, as other commenters have pointed out, since voyager so quickly scuttled all of the potential that lay in the maquis/federation tension so early. at least here it is mildly, if briefly, resuscitated.

seriously...i think if you watch this episode carefully, you'll see it is directorially much more mature than many of its counterparts. things actually are given time to build up (within the episode, series wise obviously no), we follow the character through each stage, it's not the rush job that many voyager episodes feel like.

anyway i'll take 5 of these episodes over most of the camp any day! here's to the "emotions" that apparently bother folks! cheers!

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Problems
- Species 8472 got a few things wrong in their Starfleet Headquarters recreation. The uniforms were outdated, and there were multiple Ferengi in Starfleet. (Nog from DS9 is the only Ferengi in Starfleet...)
- Janeway orders Voyager to charge weapons twice.

Factoids
- The fake Starfleet headquarters was created using a combination of holographic generators and the previously mentioned "particle synthesis" from Voy: Hope and Fear.

Remarkable Scenes
- Boothby appearance.
- The discovery that species 8472 is behind the training facility.
- The doctor: "Talk about a wolf in sheep's clothing."
- The doctor: "Throughout human history, weapons of mass destruction were designed in the hopes that they would never be used." Seven: "And yet in Earth's third world war, nuclear weapons accounted for 600 million casualties."
- Paris: "It's a date! These things can't be rushed. They've probably just finished dinner, a couple of drinks, and now they are moving past the polite stage." Kim: "The polite stage? The last 8472 I met tried to dissolve me from the inside out!"
- The "class reunion."
- Boothby: "Sit down, Admiral." Bullock: "Sir?" Boothby: "I said sit down, or I'll knock you right on your human butt!"

My Review
Another episode tying up another loose end. We never quite knew how species 8472 was going to react to losing the war with the Borg due to the Federation's help, and now we know. It seems they've built training facilities in which they are training operatives to infiltrate Earth. This was a nice opportunity to show us Starfleet Command for the first time since DS9 and TNG, as well as to bring back the beloved Boothby. He's only been in a few episodes so far, but each time used well. I liked the statement regarding Boothby having given valuable advice to all the captains in Starfleet, including Picard, which is a nice reference to TNG. That said, this episode is a bit annoying. While it is true to the spirit of Star Trek, it reeks of the writers saying, "well, let's wrap up this 8472 thing." But they didn't in fact wrap it up. The ending is *almost* a cliffhanger as there is still room for further conflict. I hate it when writers use this kind of cop out. This plot thread is wrapped up, but not! Additionally, 8472 seemed vastly out of character in this episode. This can be attributed to their "think human, be human" attitude, but again, it reeks of a cop out. Overall, disappointing.

Fan Commentary (3)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Bron on 2013-11-18 at 11:56pm:Not sure if it's a "problem" that there's multiple Ferengi in Starfleet, since they're still learning about the Alpha Quadrant-they can get some of the details wrong and be consistent.

I agree with your assessment, though I think your grade is a little too generous. This is a 2 or a 3. 8472 had a lot more story potential than this, but isn't that always the case when it comes to Voyager? Setting up plots and adventures with poential and failing to realize them, that's the legacy of Voyager.

I guess the idea was to do an 8472 episode without having to do SFX shots every time they were on screen, thus saving money. But then they have to recreate the whole Starfleet Academy set, you still end up doing an effects shot at some they, and in the end, they've written them completely out of character and inconsistent. I don't mind "wrapping up" the plot thread, and I don't mind that they came to a peaceful resolution, but the road toward it did not flow logically. For one, at some point, Species 8472 is going to say, "Hey, stop calling us by that Borg designation, we're called Twileans" or something to that extent.

The whole subplot where they recreated Starfleet academy...that's a cool image and makes for a nice teaser, but it feels out of place in this plot. Earth shouldn't factor into this at all. There's many reasons that it's kind of silly, but from a dramatic standpoint, it makes more sense if it's only Voyager they're specifically antagonistic toward. Voyager is much more alone, vulnerable, and easily threatened by them, and it's the only ship they've interacted with. Bringing earth into it adds an element that hasn't been previously justified by the story in any way. But once earth came into it and the writers established that 8472 was AWARE of earth, they were forced into a pat TV ending where everyone shakes hands at the end, or else we would be left wondering if they were busy invading earth while we were stuck watching Janeway. If the dispute remained solely between Voyager and 8472, the threat is not only more personal, they'd have at least had the option to end on an ambiguous note. They agree on some things, maintain some disagreements, but go their separate ways for now with this potential looming threat remaining.

From pbench on 2015-09-11 at 4:45am:previous poster is right. lots of potential but the same old voyager mediocrity. doesn't stop me from being addicted, but boy am i an ungrateful addict.

i digress. ultimately i was shocked that they took 8472 so out of character. and then blatantly lifted from the ds9 dominion plotline??? am i wrong that these were on at the same time?? come on, two species with the exact same plan? but yeah--my take was that 8472 were higher-order beings, to the point where verbal communication itself was almost beneath them. even as they are 'practicing' to be human they just come off as very...well, human, and not at all like this grand powerful species. what are they doing hanging out in this dimension anyway?

so yeah the episode was contrived. for some reason at the opener i hoped it was about chakotay's past and how he became maquis.

From Mike on 2017-07-27 at 9:26pm:Pon Farr night at the Vulcan Club? This has to be the result of Species 8472 misapplying some of what they learned about Vulcan culture. Otherwise, if such a place existed, no one in Starfleet HQ would get any work done, ever.

This episode is kind of eerie, in a way. They are having these conversations with people who look and act like Starfleet officers, but are members of the ominous Species 8472. Since the only communication with that species was telepathically through Seven, it was a bit off-putting to hear their normal, "human" conversation. I think I liked them better when they were shrieking praying mantis apex predators in bio-ships. But, the episode, on its own, is a pretty good one.

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My Review
There's nothing particularly wrong with this episode other than it's boring. The whole episode is an excuse to do something with the Naomi character, which is good in a way, as she's been neglected somewhat, but the way in which it was done was quite annoying. Shuttle crash episodes are a huge cliche, and putting Samantha Wildman in danger just so the writers could write a story around Naomi Wildman was kind of cheap. Getting to see elements of Naomi's daily life however was interesting, as it gives us a chance to see what life in the 24th century would be like for a child. We've had bits of this from TNG and DS9, but this episode is probably the best depiction yet. Still though, the writers have proven that they can write a decent story around children in TNG: Disaster, among others, and I would have expected better here.

Fan Commentary (4)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Pete Miller on 2006-11-05 at 9:49pm:That holodeck program is the most inane thing I have ever seen. Naomi seems way too old to be entertained by such nonsense, and I frankly felt insulted being subjected to watching it. I kept jumping every time it came on in case my roommate was about to come in.

From Vincent on 2011-10-05 at 7:25pm:I find it odd that the shuttle crew were running out of air on an M class planet. The away teams sent out to rescue them were able to breathe the atmosphere without aid, so why couldn't the Paris or Tuvok find a way to ventilate air between the interior and exterior of the of the shuttle?

Placing the manufactured danger to the shuttle crew aside, I thought this was an enjoyable exploration of the way different people prepare for their own death (the shuttle crew), handle the death of family (Neelix), and the ethics of censuring the truth from a child.

From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-06-15 at 1:27pm:Wait, they had Holographic entertainment when Janeway was a kid? She's in her early-mid 40s in the 2370s, which means this stuff had to be around in the 2340s. But wasn’t it established, in TNG: Encounter at Farpoint, that this was brand new technology during that time (circa 2360s)? I seem to recall Riker seeing the newfangled programs (which he had vaguely heard about) for the first time when he came aboard the Enterprise. Anyway, totally boring episode, aside from Naomi expressing her fear of the “Borg Lady” and trying to fake out Neelix with “I am borg”....

From Dstyle on 2015-06-20 at 11:52am:I actually really liked this episode a lot. Perhaps it's because I lost a close family member when I was young and just became a father myself, but I got a bit misty several times while watching this.

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Problems
- Chakotay says: "Looks like they hit the ice at full impulse." Uh, Chakotay? Full impulse is pretty close to the speed of light. There wouldn't have been a ship left to excavate if they hit the ice that fast. Just an impact crater.
- The doctor says to Seven of Nine "your blood-synthehol level is 0.5 percent" as an explanation for her drunkenness. But as far as I know, synthehol isn't supposed to get you drunk!
- Why couldn't Voyager use their new engine to make a series of ten second slipstream jumps instead of just using it once?

Factoids
- This story was conceived to celebrate the fact that this is Voyager's 100th episode.
- Voyager's new quantum slipstream drive seems many times faster than the original featured in Voy: Hope and Fear. Instead of 300 light years per hour, they were planning to cross thousands in mere seconds!
- Seven of Nine's translink frequency is 108.44236000.
-Thanks to the brief slipstream flight in this episode, Voyager has shaved about 10 years off their journey. This means Voyager has traveled the equivalent of about 32 years since it began its journey. (10 years [Voy: The Gift] + 5 years [Voy: Year of Hell] + 2 years [Voy: Night, rounded down] + 1 year [Voy: Hope and Fear, rounded up] + 10 years [Voy: Timeless] + 4 seasons of conventional warp = 32 years.)

Remarkable Scenes
- Seeing Voyager buried under ice...
- Harry excavating the doctor.
- The flashback to the party.
- Tuvok: "Mr. Neelix, you are an unending source of astonishment."
- Harry and Chakotay explaining their plan to the doctor.
- The doctor: "Out of the icebox and into the fire..."
- Captain LaForge of the Starship Challenger!
- Harry: "This is no ordinary phone call, Doc. When talking to yesterday, timing is everything."
- Tom: "Captain, we're just a few parsecs from the alpha quadrant!" Janeway: "Not exactly how I wanted to cross the finish line."
- The crash.
- The doctor making Harry realize he can send a set of corrections which will disperse the slipstream entirely, saving their lives, even if not getting them home.
- Harry using the doctor's mobile emitter to power the temporal transmitter.
- Harry sending the message just as the Delta Flyer explodes.
- Harry: "Wait a second. If I sent a message from the future and changed the past, then that future would no longer exist, right? So, how could I have sent the message in the first place? Am I making any sense?" Janeway: "My advice in making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple. Don't even try. To me all that matters is that somewhere, somehow, sometime, you come through for us."

My Review
A quantum matrix, benamite crystals, and Borg technology bring us a new and improved replacement quantum slipstream drive inspired by the one first featured in Voy: Hope and Fear that turned out to be in fact too dangerous to use again. The crew believes this new and improved version will work and get them home. But their new version turned out to be even more dangerous than their old one. The best part about this episode is the wonderful directing. The transitions between the past and the future were very well done, such as the scene where Chakotay lays down a PADD, then we see the PADD frozen in the future. We get to hear Janeway's final log entry in the future when Chakotay stumbles on the file, then we get to see her actually make that log entry in the past. I also love the way they alternating showing us Voyager in the past chasing the Delta Flyer and the Galaxy class starship captained by Geordi chasing the Delta Flyer in the future. Finally, we get to see Harry view the message his future self recorded earlier. A surely surreal moment for him. The only thing I don't like about this wonderful episode is the technical issue surrounding why Voyager can never use this technology again, described in the problems section. Otherwise, one of the best time travel episodes and a wonderful celebration for Voyager's 100th episode.

Fan Commentary (6)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Mitch on 2013-07-30 at 4:52am:"But as far as I know, synthehol isn't supposed to get you drunk!"

I think the explanation lies in the TNG episode "Relics". Data tells Scotty that the intoxicating effects of synthehol can be easily dismissed, which would indicate you can indeed be intoxicated by it.

From Rick on 2013-10-24 at 1:41pm:In regards to your full impulse problem: isnt full impulse describing how much force the engines are creating? Yes, that results in near light speeds in space but full impulse in an atmosphere would be much slower. With a shallow enough angle of impact its possible voyager would survive.

From SilverDragonRed on 2014-02-03 at 10:29am:This episode was an excellent character piece for Harry Kim and Chakotay (mostly Harry). It was nice to see the writers do something with the character since 'The Killing Game'.

My only problem with this episode, once again, has to do with the quantum slipstream. It was bad enough that the writers just casually threw that into 'Hope and Fear' without thinking of the ramifications of it; but now, they made it even more ridiculous by making a modified version that is 111x faster than the original alien design. Once again, no thoughts to the repercussions of this insane speed; just treat the revoluntionary device as if it was just another casual machine.

They say in the episode that the ship would only be able to maintain the slipstream for ten seconds. In actuality, Voyager held it for three minutes before the future abort code forced them out. According to Janeway's log after this, the test flight covered 10,000 light years.

So, this MODIFIED slipstream drive has a speed of 1,752,000,000 c that can traverse the entire Milky Way galaxy in only half an hour. If there is a new series set in the old continuity, they need to address the impact this thing will have on the Federation and its neighbors.

From Dstyle on 2015-06-22 at 11:17am:I find it incredibly hard to believe that they popped the champagne before anyone did any holosimulations of the new quantum slipstream drive. That just seems like it would be a no-brainer standard procedure for something like this.

Also, why couldn't they contact Seven the day before they used the slipstream with a simply decoded message that said, "Hey, don't do this, you're all going to die?" Although I guess doing it this way shaved 10 years off their journey.

From Andy on 2015-07-26 at 6:31pm:"Full impulse is pretty close to the speed of light. There wouldn't have been a ship left to excavate if they hit the ice that fast. Just an impact crater."

At full impulse, there wouldn't be a planet anymore.

From Rick on 2016-04-18 at 12:55am:In response to your third problem about consecutive slipstream jumps......It took me awhile to think of this but I think that Harry had to give them precise phase corrections that would "safely" throw Voyager out of the slipstream. If they tried this again all of the relevant factors (whatever they are) would be different and Harry wouldnt know what phase corrections would safely throw Voyager out of the slipstream. The only reason he knew the first time is that he had a decade to study the situation.

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Factoids
- Captain Blackwell and the Federation Starship Tombaugh were assimilated by the Borg 13 years ago.
- Borg species designation: 6339, name unknown. First encountered the Borg about 4 years ago. Since that time 11 billion individuals have been assimilated.
- Borg species designation: 180, Ferengi. A curiously extremely low number signifies that the Ferengi encountered the Borg perhaps thousands of years before humans.

Remarkable Scenes
- Seven of Nine's odd behavior in the teaser.
- Naomi shadowing Seven.
- Seven of Nine's personality reverting to that of a human little girl.
- Seven, as a Klingon male, seducing Torres.
- Seven becoming a Vulcan, then becoming a Klingon again and attacking Tuvok. I like her Klingon line just before she attacks him: "You will drown in your own blood!"
- Seven of Nine as a Ferengi.
- The doctor regarding mind melds: "Captain! You can't actually be considering this Vulcan mumbo jumbo!"
- The doctor to Tuvok: "With all these new personalities floating around, it's a shame we can't find one for you."
- The mind meld.

My Review
A rehash of TNG: Masks that doesn't suck. Jeri Ryan does a fantastic job acting out all of her multiple personalities, and the rapport she develops with Naomi is pretty neat as well. We get to see a Borg "vinculum," which is supposedly the central processor at the heart of every Borg vessel, purging individual thought and maintaining the central link to the Collective. Or in short, "bringing order to chaos." We also get an interesting look at an unfortunately nameless species 6339. Their species was mostly assimilated by the Borg, the survivors engineered a virus that attacks Borg vessels, creating this Borg multiple personality disorder. This detail shows intelligent writing, Seven of Nine isn't spontaneously freaking out just because she's in the proximity of Borg technology, which would have been cliched. Overall, the episode was slightly above average.

Fan Commentary (2)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Pete Miller on 2006-11-06 at 1:02am:I'd just like to point out that for all of Voyager's flaws, it sure succeeds at one thing: humor. This episode showcases some of the best humor I've seen so far on the show, making full use of Tuvok, Torres, Seven, and the Doctor. More humorous scenes than I can count!

I actually rather liked this episode; despite the awful-sounding premise, they managed to execute it well. It's too bad they didn't do more with that virus-creating species. They seemed pretty cool.

And I've got one question (I guess I missed something; maybe it has some super force field or something): Why in the HELL didn't they just phaser the crap out of that vinculum in space?

From Dstyle on 2015-06-22 at 9:32am:Seven is strapped to the biobed and is starting to hear the voices again. The doctor says something to the effect of, "Just try to focus on my voice!" and then stops talking. Not very helpful, doc!

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Remarkable Scenes
- Chakotay: "Harry, you and I were lucky enough to enjoy the Doctor's scintillating exhibition for two full hours, would it really be fair of us to deny our friends the same unforgettable experience?"
- Torres: "What happened to going to yellow alert after half an hour?" Tuvok: "Commander Chakotay appears to have disobeyed a direct order." Janeway: "Definitely grounds for court martial."
- Crell and the doctor arguing ethics.
- Tom, Chakotay, Tuvok, and the doctor debating the medical ethics.
- Janeway ending the debate, making the decision to use Crell's research.

My Review
An otherwise exceptional episode slightly ruined by misguided "superior" morality. Janeway is the star of the show here for me, she nips the ethical debate at the bud and decides to use the unethical research to save Torres' life. I would have made the same decision. But the doctor's decision to "repent" by deleting Crell's program after he'd already used his research is just blatant hypocrisy. Crell Moset was a great character who would have been a worthy addition to the cast. He had a dark side, yes, but frankly it would have contributed positively to future episodes. I would have enjoyed seeing more of "the evil hologram's" clever solutions to medical problems, for the one thing Voyager lacks that DS9 excels at so well is a dark aspect to the show.

Fan Commentary (8)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Tony on 2008-08-30 at 9:54pm:One interesting aspect of this episode that I really like is the aliens. Far too often in Star Trek, the aliens are humanoid, and with similar technology. I understand that this allows for plots and subjects that would otherwise not be able to be done, but this episode provides a glimpse at an alien species that's as far from humanity as real aliens would probably be.

From Tony on 2008-08-31 at 1:40pm:In my first Comment, I mentioned the great part of this episode, but I forgot to mention the horrible part, the Doctor deleting Moset and his research. While deleting Moset is understandable, deleting his research is just wrong. Even if it was gathered in a bad way, the information gained may help save lives. It should have never been obtained, but now that it is, it might as well be used for good.

From fan Ive on 2009-12-14 at 2:33pm:end of this episode is absurd in my opinion. unlike ethics in episode "dear doctor" from enterprise.
it was wrong to delete Crell's program.
sorry for grammar mistakes, official language in my country is not english.

From Tallifer on 2011-04-24 at 12:20am:Some of you might be unaware of the very pertinent and actual history: the Nazis and Imperial Japanese tortured hundreds of prisoners for the sake of medical research. Most of this research was spurious and unscientific, but some results concerning extreme environments and biological warfare have been the source of ethical debates within the scientific and medical communities.

From Deggsy on 2012-03-30 at 7:36am:The ethical decisions behind the Doctor's decision were shaky at best. Taking it to logical extremes, warp drive technology should have been banned because the first practical application of it on Earth, Zefram Cochrane's ship the Phoenix, was built in an ICBM missile, the type of which helped wipe out hundreds of millions of people in the Third World War. And didn't the decision to wipe the data go against the spirit of Janeway's decision in the first place? And if people really objected to Crell, why not change his holographic appearance/identity?

From Dstyle on 2015-06-24 at 11:23am:Harry: "Uh, Doc, this guy is a Cardassian."
Doctor: "So?"
Harry: "Well, half the people on this ship committed their lives to fighting the Cardassians. This might not sit well."
Doctor: "So? That was four years ago. I'm trying to save B'Elanna's life!"
Harry: "Yeah, all the same... Computer, change Crell Moset's appearance to make him look human, and have him respond to the name, uh, Chris... Moss."
Doctor: "Was that really necessary?"
Harry: "Well, it sucks all of the dramatic tension out of this episode, but then again the episode was suffering from an easily avoidable manufactured controversy. And this way you get to keep your assistant."
Doctor: "Very well then."

From pbench on 2015-09-13 at 5:53am:this is exactly the kind of false dichotomy i spoke of in my comment on 4x14, "prey". here we have the potential for a rich ethical dilemma that ends up almost forcing the viewer to "side" with the less forgiving option, but more for reasons of aesthetics than actual moral ones.

this is part of voyager's, and TV's in general, "tell don't show" policy. that is to say: they think that the mere appearance of disagreement ("we should do it!" "no we shouldn't!) is evidence of "tension" between characters and some kind of riveting existential struggle for the viewer. i don't think it is, as we know that a million and one factors go into the 'feeling' or 'mood' of any particular scene, dialogue being only one of them. this misunderstanding also explains why so many of the interview quotes i read on memory alpha talk about the "intense rivalry" between the captain and seven of nine, which i have never sensed; it is extremely mild and the captain always wins anyway. it is obvious what the arch of the show is and we never truly feel it to be in danger or question.

here, we have different characters being puppeteered to very clearly adopt different parts of the moral spectrum, not necessarily proceeding from their characters' natural tendencies, but to "create" tension where there is none (i.e. no imagination. okay that was harsh, but you get my meaning).

this is an artistic, qualitative failure: one is inclined to agree with moset's position less for any actual philosophical reasons than for the parlour trick of mere plot progression--and in fact his argument would seem pretty reasonable to anyone who didn't think through the consequences truly (thanks to commenter tallifer for bringing up the real precedent for this). because the characters, as written, ARE being almost absurdly stubborn in a scenario which could very easily be argued is an extenuating circumstance--and with good precedent, considering all the other decisions Voyager's crew has had to make over the years. instead of appearing like two truly divergent threads in the plot, it really is just a fake screaming match between star trek telling us it is star trek ("look, think twice about things, okay!") and the logical action-sci fi conclusion (save the protagonist). the argument to try to save the creature appears as weak as most other star trek "rights" scenarios that know little more than how to repeatedly assert and state the nature of said rights...a nice progression for tv, but so much less than we know is possible in the right hands.

that's why it was so frustrating that there were several times where the true qualitative difference between the methodologies could have been drawn out: not in the abstract puritanism of "not using something useful" (which can easily be cast as a mere "cultural" bias getting in the way of "actual" issues, which is how most characters deal with b'elanna and the bajoran crewmember...though this is their right regardless), but because as we saw in the surgical scene, it actually plays out in qualitatively DIFFERENT decisions IN THE PRESENT. moset's mentality may have led to killing the alien, which may have resulted in an even fiercer battle with its rescuers. i was glad they were finally showing this difference beyond the mere ideological and then they just completely left it.

this same thing always happens on star trek, and voyager especially: the tables are flipped and the other character starts accusing the protagonist have being too high-minded...while the protagonist looks concerned and has nothing to say in reply. don't get me wrong--i agree w/ kethinov that star fleet deserves to be put down and i would love to see the dark side of things, including the very real accusation that much of earth's science is tainted in very deep ways as well, and not just by animals (tuskegee experiments, sterilisation of indigenous women, women of color, nuclear experiments on entire populations of hiroshima, nagasaki, etc.). there's rich possibilities for the "other" side too!

but the argument instead is supremely facile: "are you so different than me?" the doctor easily could have said, "you almost killed that thing! we survived BECAUSE we chose to prioritise its life instead, a decision which never would have come to you naturally!" that is the ACTUAL reason--any horizon determines the direction you walk. if you see it close or far, high or low, or taking different forms, it all affects you in the NOW, and moset's fake apolitical apathy actually greatly informs his "practice". this could have been richly drawn out, and instead we get two options where one seems like a no-brainer and the other pure showmanship. good job star trek...

my point is, just as a murder mystery inherently couches all character interactions thru the lens of suspicion, an action-based tv plotline is always going to go for the path of least resistance. now, if you're star trek, and you're trying to introduce higher-order thinking into that, that's all well and good...except if you don't really know what you want or what you even are. so we have characters in torture episodes simply saying "it is wrong" without really delving into all of the myriad ways that *procedurally* it fails, that it actually *proves* its own idiocy and evilness by the manner in which it handles things and achieves the opposite results of what it intends, and spirals into a never-ending, cascading cycle of suffering and loss of humanity for the torturee and the torturer. this applies just as well here.

if it all seems inefficient, all you need to do is think of the following scenario: suppose you are talking about a child whose body became fused to an adult's through some kind of bomb blast (just imagine). it would be a non-starter to simply say, "yeah just kill the child to get to the adult." from the get-go it would be clear that there was a lot to work through before you just chop the body up, no?

anyway yes...end rant. props to the voyager team for going with a non-humanoid alien for once, yes. it is a refreshing change of pace. also yes to dstyle's comment that the doctor could've just changed moset's appearance. :P

ultimately i did enjoy this episode since it had the HINT of something deeper...i just like picking shit apart. :D i did sigh in frustration and wish upon a star for something else, but glad we got something more than the average far here...

From tigertooth on 2016-11-21 at 3:26pm:If I was subjected to awful, unethical research, would I prefer that that the useful information gleaned from the research be discarded or would I prefer that it be used to help save innocent lives?

I mean, obviously my first preference would be not to be the subject of the inhumane experiments. But once that ship has sailed, might as well use the knowledge to help people. Should we tear up all the railways in this country because they were built with a great deal of slave labor?

So yeah -- I agree that deleting Moset and his research was dumb, and as others have stated, I was asking "Why don't they just change his appearance?"

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Problems
- The crew "uploads" the gravity core's database. The correct term should have been download.
- The scene when Janeway reduces Tom's rank and sends him to the brig at the beginning of the episode differs in line order from the one shown at the end of the episode. They really should have kept the lines exact.

Factoids
- We get to see Tom Paris as a boy during his nightmares.

Remarkable Scenes
- Seeing the Delaney sisters, finally.
- Tom: "Well you've done it again, Harry." Kim: "What?" Tom: "Fallen for the unattainable woman. First it was a hologram, then a Borg, and now the wrong twin."
- An all-water planet. Fascinating.
- The Delta Flyer investigating the core of the ocean planet.
- Tom discovering the origins of the ocean planet.
- Tom's "radical action to protect the ocean."
- Janeway deflecting Tom's missile attack on the oxygen refinery.

My Review
Tommy was a bad boy so Mommy threw him in his room for a while... okay, well I can't make fun the episode too much because it's wonderfully original and visually spectacular. The ecological issue is still pretty fresh, it's not often examined in Star Trek. Tom Paris tells us the story from his jail cell of how he ended up in prison again. He tried to take "radical action to protect" a unique alien all-water planet, but Janeway was able to stop him before he completed his task. It's an unhappy ending in a way, even Janeway agreed with Tom's principles, so it would have been nice if he had succeeded. But he didn't. Not only did he accomplish nothing, but he ended up sitting in jail for thirty days for the attempt. I'd be feeling pretty lousy too if I were him. The drama, unique directing, unique aliens, and unique setting make this a most remarkable, if sad episode.

Fan Commentary (3)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From mnp on 2011-11-11 at 7:41pm:After Tom gets out of solitary, B'Elanna calls him on the comm and says she's heard he's "free for dinner", which she then schedules for "0700".

In regards to what is a download or an upload, that's a matter of perspective. If they logged into the gravity core and started the copy from there, it would technically be an upload:

KIM: Looks like the reactor's controlled by a core computer. I'll try to upload the database and get some answers.
PARIS: Initiate the interface.

... could go either way.

From pbench on 2015-09-13 at 8:00am:amazing episode. for once i truly didn't know which direction it was going to go either way, down to the moment that both crews yelled "fire!". all the characters were allowed to play on their strengths--tom's strongheadedness and hidden idealism beneath the cynical exterior (though surprised that b'elanna didn't mention the maquis when he said 'i'm not one for causes'), janeway's liberality but ultimately stern hand as a ship captain...

so many great moments in this episode--dealing with themes of cultural conflict, political impotence, environmentalism, and even the unintended consequences of poorly-thought out projects...was great. loved the scene of the monean ambassador staring down paris in that moment of cultural chauvinism, even though he's probably a snake on his planet, like climate deniers on our own.

all in all was very impressed with this episode. here's how you do a TRUE moral dilemma, each choice really truly mixed, with great directing and subtlety; loved the novelty of it being recounted backwards. kudos voyager!!!

From tigertooth on 2016-11-21 at 12:14pm:Kind of jarring that Janeway sentences him to 30 days solitary confinement when it's well documented that solitary confinement of even a few weeks is psychologically damaging and is widely considered to be torture. Maybe they have figured out ways to make it less damaging by that time.

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Factoids
- Voyager gives away two shuttles in this episode, and we see a new set depicting the shuttle bay. We are forced to conclude that Voyager has two actual shuttle bays (perhaps the smaller one is on the ventral section of the hull) and that they can construct replacement shuttles (along with torpedoes) whenever they need them.
- Randy Oglesby, who plays Kir in this episode, played Silaran in DS9: The Darkness and the Light, the twins in DS9: Vortex, as well as one of Riva's chorus in TNG: Loud as a Whisper.

Remarkable Scenes
- Kashyk: "Your culture has many contradictions. Violence and beauty, science and faith, all somehow mingled harmoniously, like the counterpoint of this music. Mahler, Symphony No. I, am I correct?"
- Professor Torat: "Federations, Imperiums, why do you people feel such a need to align yourselves with monolithic organizations?" Janeway: "I'd be glad to discuss that and any other philosophical issue you care to raise if you would just slow down and talk." Professor Torat, sarcastically: "Sorry, can't do that. I'm late for a very important conference!" Kashyk: "This is a waste of time. Disable his ship." Janeway: "That's what we call overkill, inspector." Janeway beams Torat to the bridge.
- Kashyk insulting Torat. I love Torat's pump-up nose.
- Kashyk betraying Janeway.
- Janeway to Kashyk after he realizes Janeway had fooled him: "Computer, change music selection. Mahler's Symphony No. I, Second Movement... maybe this will help you relax."

My Review
This episode is quite original; most remarkable is the music played throughout the course of the episode. The Classical symphonies of Mahler and Tchaikovsky create a surreal atmosphere surrounding Janeway and Kashyk as they both attempt to manipulate each other. The counterpoint in the music symbolized the counterpoint of Janeway and Kashyk's evolving "relationship" throughout the episode. Another feather in the episode's cap was the briefly shown Professor Torat. He was just the kind of alien I wish we could see more of. His few scenes were not wasted, the guy was hilarious. I just wish he got more time and Kashyk got less as the pseudo romance that evolved between Janeway and Kashyk was on the verge of becoming offensive. Overall though the episode presents a successful story depicting mistrust, innuendo, and deception.

Fan Commentary (7)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From carsonist on 2010-01-19 at 5:22pm:This plot would have worked much better if there had been any chemistry at all between Janeway and Kashyk. I could see they were implying a relationship when they were working together, but there was no spark whatsoever. When they kissed, I was surprised because it simply made no sense.

From Lennier on 2010-06-14 at 12:26am:Doesn't Kashyk's organization massively resemble the Psi Corps from Babylon 5?

So the episode has some originality regarding the music choices but also some striking unoriginality there.

From Kenobie on 2011-04-10 at 5:01am:There seemed to be 2 glaring mistakes on this episode. #1: when they found out about the location of the worm hole in the solar system, it was said that it was 8 Light years away, the enemy commander said that there was a problem with the solar system, as it has a sensor array that would pick them up. It had a sensor range of 10 Light years. Would that not mean they are already in range?

#2: At the end when the telepaths leave in the 2 shuttles.the commander, gives the ship back to Jane-way, as the telepaths are gone and the failure would look bad. Where are the Vulcan Tovok and the engineer. surly they did no leave too!

From plus on 2011-11-01 at 3:29am:Holy crappoly... this just ranked itself into my short list of favorite voyager episodes. It has an almost magical elegance to it. Everything flows smoothly, one scene to the next - unlike some episodes which seem jerky and abbreviated, like a movie trailer.

I love the complexity of the relationship between Janeway and her counterpoint, Kashyk.

Mahler and Tchaikovsky make for a great soundtrack as well.

I could probably say more but the point is, this is a very well written and well directed episode.

From Rick on 2013-01-08 at 1:46am:I agree with an above poster: where the hell were Tuvok and the other vulcan at the end of the episode? I guess held in transporter suspension in a different part of the ship?

And on a separate note, relating to the entire series: is voyager the slowest ship in the quadrant? because it sure doesnt seem like they can ever outrun anyone. It wouldnt matter too much if you were outgunned by 10 warships if you could just outrun them, but obviously that wouldnt make fore very good episodes.

From TheAnt on 2013-10-12 at 6:13pm:"The Sting" episode.

The story is excellent, and told with a good flow without interruptions this time. Almost like one actual movie.
Professor Torat made for one very good alien, and not just another humanoid with nothing more than a funny bump on the forehead, and good acting there as well.

@carsonist: I hope you read this and go see the episode again, the attraction between Janeway and Kashyk is so strong I expected they would jump each other any second. Even though it turned uot it were faked by Kashyk, it rather did show good acting and quite a sign that his character were supposed to have one heck of an ability of manipulation.

But yes there's one inconsistency, the whereabouts of Tuvok and the Vulcan from engineering named Vorik is unaccounted for.

Also I have to chime in with a tumbs up on the selection of music, good choice and very nice to have one departure on the variations of Gustav Holst "The planets" which we hear so many times on Voyager.

So why do I call this episode 'The Sting' well like in that film the viewers are kept in the dark on several details - first the whereabouts of 2 crewmembers and the fact that Voyager hold refugees. But also in the conclusion, that Janeway and the crew created a what appeared to be a wormhole in the predicted location - which were false, and that the telepaths already were on their way to escape in another location in space.
A solid 10.

From Dstyle on 2015-06-24 at 1:02pm:So Kashyk let Voyager go because... wait, why did Kashyk let Voyager go? As far as I'm concerned this is the end of the series. Voyager is impounded by the gestapo aliens and the crew is sent to a detention camp, where they languish and die. Kashyk's "Let's just pretend this whole failure never happened" thing is ridiculous. And then Voyager, I guess, just leaves their space, which isn't apparently all that large, at least not compared to species like the Kazon or the Malon who seem to control vast reaches of the Delta quadrant.

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Remarkable Scenes
- I love the way the doctor set up his holocamera to record whoever was tampering with his program.
- The doctor confronting the bridge crew regarding the "conspiracy."
- Seven of Nine's philosophical discussion with Janeway.
- Harry regarding the doctor's decision to beam the alien back to his ship: "You should have beamed him into space."
- The doctor beginning to freak out in his flashback.
- The doctor beginning to freak out after the flashback.
- The doctor: "The more I think about it, the more I realize there's nothing I could have done differently." Janeway: "What do you mean?" The doctor: "The primordial atom burst. Sending out its radiation, setting everything in motion. One particle collides with another, gasses expand, planets contract, and before you know it, we've got starships, and holodecks, and chicken soup. In fact, you can't help but have starships, holodecks, and chicken soup because it was all determined 20 billion years ago!"
- The doctor reading from La Vita Nuova: "In that book which is my memory, on the first page of the chapter, that is the day when I first met you, appear the words, 'here begins a new life.'"

My Review
Another strong episode, the doctor discovers that his program has been tampered with. When he finds out, he realizes it was to erase memories of his that were causing him to act irrationally. The episode touches on two moral conflicts, one on when two people's lives are equally in danger but you can only save one of them, which do you pick? The second regarding when you know a person who is participating in self destructive behavior, do you intervene? The episode is very successful in exploring these concepts, but it is somewhat weak in the overall premise of the plot. Consider that Ensign Ahni Jetal had been on the ship for at least three years. Wouldn't somebody have slipped up and mentioned her to the doctor? Well, fortunately another cover up is avoided, and Janeway decides to treat the doctor less like a malfunctioning replicator and more like a person.

Fan Commentary (4)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Jeff Browning on 2011-09-06 at 8:52pm:You missed some huge technical problems. The premise is that there is a ship-wide conspiracy to hide facts from the Doctor. If so, why does Harry Kim make things worse by denying knowledge of his surgery? Wouldn't he instead come up with a plausible alternative explanation? His response did nothing but increase the Doctor's curiosity. Likewise, why did Seven restore the Doctor's missing holoprojector files? She also simply makes things worse. Either they were not in on the cover-up (and how could Harry not be?) or they were incredibly inept. And the most inept is Capt. Janeway. Not a likely scenario. Altogether a very flawed and illogical episode.

From thaibites on 2014-11-30 at 4:43am:What was the point of this episode? The ending was flat and kind of a let down. It seems like they're saying it's a new beginning for the doctor, but if watch the next episode, he's still the same condescending, egotistical, smarmy, know-it-all jerk that he usually is.
So............I repeat, "What's the point of this episode?" The doctor hasn't changed or grown for his experiences here, so why should we care? This whole episode is just pointless.

From Dstyle on 2015-07-07 at 10:42am:I love the scene where the Doctor tells Janeway about his discovery that he performed surgery on Harry. They're both so casual about it!

This episode unfolded in a really spectacular fashion. Very well written!

From Martin on 2016-04-16 at 4:29pm:IMO one has to view these type of series with an opened eye. There's a part of this episode which is simply art. And what art is all about is making you feel something. Despite all the technicalities and flaws in this episode, the important part to consider is that, for the first time, the doctor made and irracional decision, and has to confront all the feelings that decision holds for him.
In this episode we see the doctor, a hologram, dealing with really hard feelings, attempting to make sense of some new part of his existance which just doesn't make sense. The irracionality of the human emotions.
Reminds me a little of data feeling like sh*t for not being able to save geordi in First Contact.
This one has art written all over it. I give this episode a 9, wonderful.

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Factoids
- This episode features a rare mention of a bathroom on a starship.

Remarkable Scenes
- Neelix mentioning that only 4 bathrooms and 3 sonic showers are operational.
- Tom: "Satan's robot." Tuvok: "Naturally."
- Tom: "Intercepted communications between Doctor Chaotica and Arachnia. Stop. Chaotica at war with aliens from 5th dimension. Stop. Must strike now to disable death ray." Tuvok: "Stop. Please summarize the message."
- Tuvok and Tom meeting the photonic alien. I like how he said "all life is photonic" and that Tuvok and Paris didn't register on his instruments and must therefore be the simulation.
- Janeway: "Let me get this straight. Transdimensional aliens have mistaken your Captain Proton simulation for reality." Tom: "Yes ma'am." Janeway: "And now an armed conflict has broken out between these aliens and Chaotica's holographic army." Tom: "Yes ma'am. His army of evil."
- Janeway being nominated to play Arachnia.
- Tom instructing Janeway on how to best fit into her role: "It helps to say things like: 'The clever fiendishness of your evil plan is brilliant!'"
- The doctor masquerading as the "president of Earth."

My Review
A great humor episode, it was especially fun to watch the various crew's reactions to witnessing elements of the Captain Proton simulation out of context. This episode was meant in many ways to be a parody of Star Trek. Tom is "researching" how ancient humans viewed the future. And they didn't get it quite right. The same may very well happen to us. Additionally, Tom impresses Tuvok with his technobabble, an allusion to Star Trek, Harry wonders why the Planet X set is identical to the Mines of Mercury set, another allusion to Star Trek, and so on. Aside from the general parody, this episode makes me really wish we'd seen more of Bashir's holosuite programs on DS9. I would have liked to have seen Bashir and O'Brien at the Alamo, or at the Battle of Britain. And if it was half as fun as this episode was, it would have been amazing.

Fan Commentary (4)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Pete Miller on 2006-11-15 at 11:29pm:That robot walking around awkwardly running into things was the absolute best part of this episode. I also loved seeing Tuvok's extreme irritation regarding the whole silliness of the Captain Proton story.

I think this is my favorite of the main holodeck programs that characters in Star Trek use (Sherlock Holmes, Vic Fontaine, Dixon Hill, Leonardo Da Vinci, and that stupid other thing Janeway did at the beginning that seemed like some Jane Austen novel)

From Tallifer on 2011-04-24 at 5:50am:I would religiously watch a whole seven seasons of a series of Captain Proton!

From packman_jon on 2012-07-05 at 12:02am:A holodock malfunction episode? I'VE NEVER SEEN THIS BEFORE!

Kidding aside, this episode parodied more than just classic Trek: The intro to "Captain Proton" seemed to feel like the serials (like Flash Gordon) of the 1930-40s - especially with the recaps and "chapters." There's a great quote also in the cold open for - "Cliffhangers - the lost art of hyberbole" - very applicable for the 1940s adventures to even now!

From Zac on 2014-10-24 at 1:35pm:One of the best humor episodes I have seen so far in all of Star Trek. Question/problem though: when Paris is introducing himself and Tuvok to the alien, he says "I'm Ensign Paris and this is Lieutenant Tuvok." Shouldn't Tuvok at this point be referred to as "Commander Tuvok" as he was promoted to Lt Cmdr earlier on?

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My Review
A rather generic episode, other than the rather interesting time displacement part, the character of Noss, and Tuvok's flashbacks. If it were not for these things, the episode would be hideously cliched. We have yet another shuttle crash (one wonders if by now half the crew is assigned to "shuttle and photon torpedo replacement duty") resulting in yet another rescue attempt. It's rather funny how the writers don't even tell us why Tuvok, Tom, and the doctor were on a shuttle mission in the first place, as if it doesn't matter. My complaining aside, the social situation that developed between Noss and Tuvok was very well written and made the episode most watchable. It's also remarkable how Tom kept encouraging Tuvok to accept Noss' advances, to accept the inevitability of their situation, that this planet was "home" now. It reminded me a lot of Voy: Remember with Chakotay in place of Tom. I also liked how the aliens trying to seal the rift were the same aliens attacking people down on the planet. It certainly makes sense with their claim that they've lost ships to the anomaly too frequently. Even all these nice touches can't save the episode from being below average though. We've just seen too many shuttle crashes.

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From spline on 2014-01-20 at 6:09am:I certainly dont think this was generic. This was a character piece, not just of Tuvok but of Vulcan culture. The reason for the crash, the whole side plot of the alien ship closing the sinkhole etc. was just an excuse to focus on Tuvok, and well worth the suspension of disbelief we have towards the Photon Torpedo and Shuttle Factory we've already developed. 8)

I have a soft spot for Lori Petty, and she did a great job with her alien language. The chemistry between her and Tim Russ (Tuvok) was remarkable for it's restraint, and yet it was clearly there. Great job on both the actors.

And the ending was really good, I liked that it didnt try to tack on some kind of tragic or hopeful thing.

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Factoids
- We get to see Tuvok's wife in this episode.
- The ship eating creature is over 2,000 kilometers in diameter. The largest Seven of Nine has ever seen. The doctor estimates that the life form is at least 200,000 years old.

Remarkable Scenes
- Naomi, bored with her away mission on the Delta Flyer: "Can't we make first contact with somebody or get in a space battle?" Tom, playing along: "Yeah, can't we?" Seven: "Another time, perhaps."
- Seven regarding the supposed wormhole: "The odds of finding such an anomaly are infinitesimal."
- Seven of Nine's very quick hackjob allowing her access to Janeway's personal logs.
- Seven of Nine enlisting Naomi's support in her little insurrection.
- Seven of Nine beaming into Engineering and shooting everybody.
- Naomi walking into a forcefield.
- Seven of Nine's initial discussion with Qatai after they entered the creature.
- The doctor: "Please state the nature of the medical emergency." Qatai: "Your ship is being devoured. I'd say that's an emergency."
- The doctor: "This is a sickbay, not an arsenal." Not exact, but I'll count it. Count 30 for "I'm a doctor, not a (blah)" style lines, which McCoy was famous for.
- The doctor: "I'm a doctor, not a dragonslayer." Count 31 for "I'm a doctor, not a (blah)" style lines, which McCoy was famous for.
- The final scene depicting Qatai flying back into the creature again. Go captain Ahab go!

My Review
A rehash of TNG: The Game. No, really, a complete rehash. Replace Wesley with Seven of Nine, Robin with Naomi, and Data with the doctor and there you go! Except that this version is greatly improved. We do have an additional good guy to add to the plot, the local "dragonslayer." He was a cool character, I liked most the doctor's interactions with him. It's definitely appropriate that a man may become obsessed with hunting Moby Dick style this enormous space "monster", as Naomi put it. Also different from TNG: The Game is instead of brainwashing through pleasure and addiction, the "space monster" uses elaborate telepathy to make the crew of a ship "see exactly what they want to see" thereby making them let down their guard. Ultimately the ending is pretty predictable, obviously they were going to find a way out of the creature. But I liked the way Seven of Nine, Naomi, the doctor, and Qatai went about doing it. The four characters had nice chemistry. Naomi was especially useful, which is rare, and her child's perspective added quite a bit to the plot. I also liked the subtle twist at the end. The teaser depicted Qatai entering the space creature, intent on killing it when in fact it was deceiving him. The final scene depicted the very same thing. The space creature was probably tricking him again...

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Factoids
- The actors hired for Seven of Nine's flashbacks are the same actors hired for her previous flashbacks in Voy: Scorpion and Voy: The Raven.
- Seven's parents measured the Borg cube at 28 cubic kilometers with 129,000 drones aboard.

Remarkable Scenes
- Voyager's conflict with the Borg probe.
- Janeway: "Now this is how I prefer the Borg. In pieces!"
- Kim: "Captain! Don't touch that!" Janeway: "What is it?" Kim: "I don't know. But a few minutes ago it was crawling around the floor."
- Janeway's recreation.
- The heist.
- Seven deciding to stay.
- The sight of the unicomplex.
- The Borg queen's assemblage and greeting to Seven.

My Review
This is probably one of Voyager's most controversial episodes, as much of the trivia seems to contradict TNG. The Hansens made first contact with the Borg, not Picard. And it seems the Borg Queen somehow survived the ordeal in Star Trek VIII: First Contact. This stuff isn't as bad as it seems though. The Hansens were chasing after a Borg "myth". Nobody in Starfleet took them seriously at all. Also, they crossed the Neutral Zone to do it, which seems continuous with the Romulans complaining that their outposts were being picked off in TNG: The Neutral Zone. Additionally, in TNG: Q Who, Picard said the Federation needed a "kick" in its "complacency", this could be loosely interpreted as Picard saying, "looks like the Borg rumors were real after all." As for the queen, another body was probably selected to represent her, much the way the Founders are presumed to work on DS9. In short, I don't think this episode really conflicts with TNG. Getting to the good stuff, it's awesome that Janeway is finally starting to realize "hey, let's steal Borg engines and get home really fast!" The writers gave us a convincing model of how it could be done without looking too easy or too hard. I like how they made it possible through a unique situation, mostly explaining why they never tried it before. The Borg Queen's interest in Seven of Nine remains something of a mystery, but then her interest in Picard or Data wasn't exactly easy to explain either. Overall, a highly exciting episode with a decent cliffhanger.

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From Dave on 2009-08-03 at 2:36am:Not quite so sure I would dismiss the continuity problems with TNG's Borg history quite so easily. I'm sure they can be rationalised away - perhaps it would have been nice for Janeway or one of the crew to have at least expressed some curiosity about it. After all, in Scorpion, Janeway does say "from the moment Q flung the Enterprise into the path of that first cube" - meaning it was still believed Picard had first contact with the Borg.
Besides that - having just seen The Raven again, I'm puzzled. Janeway says files from the USS Raven have been "gathering dust" in Voyager's database for a year. Really? When were these obtained? Presumably from the encounter with the Raven, of course, but how exactly? Neither Seven nor Tuvok had time to download them, as the ship was under attack from the Bomar aliens of the week. And once they left the ship, they saw the Raven fall to pieces before being beamed out by Paris. Hardly an episode breaker - but a bit annoying!

From Spacebard on 2012-10-28 at 6:13pm:Not too long after the Doctor had deleted the Crell Moset hologram on ethical grounds in “Nothing Human”, he is seen enthusing over a piece of Borg medical equipment presumably derived from the forced assimilation of billions of sentient beings. Then, under Janeway’s direction, the crew formulate a plan to steal a Borg transwarp coil with seemingly no ethical qualms. A touch of double standards, methinks.

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Factoids
- The actors hired for Seven of Nine's flashbacks are the same actors hired for her previous flashbacks in Voy: Scorpion and Voy: The Raven.
- Borg species designation: 6961, Ktarian.
- Borg species designation: 10026, name unknown. Seven of Nine helped the Borg to assimilate them.
- Borg species designation: 5618, human. "Below average cranium capacity, minimum redundant systems, limited regenerative abilities."
- Borg species designation: 125, name unknown. The Borg Queen, or at least this particular Borg Queen came from this species.
- Thanks to the Borg transwarp in this episode, Voyager has shaved about 15 years off their journey. (or 20,000 light years.) This means Voyager has traveled the equivalent of about 47 years since it began its journey. (10 years [Voy: The Gift] + 5 years [Voy: Year of Hell] + 2 years [Voy: Night, rounded down] + 1 year [Voy: Hope and Fear, rounded up] + 10 years [Voy: Timeless] + 15 years [Voy: Dark Frontier] + 4 seasons of conventional warp = 47 years.)

Remarkable Scenes
- Seven's reaction to the Borg Queen: "I expected reassimilation, not conversation."
- Naomi trying to come up with plans to rescue Seven of Nine.
- Janeway: "There are 3 things to remember about being a starship captain. Keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of your crew."
- The Hansens cataloging drones. I like how when they beamed one back it used the TNG style transporter effect. Nice attention to detail.
- Seven of Nine assisting with repairs to the shield generator. I love the blood curdling screams in the background...
- The sight of the mass assimilation process.
- Seven of Nine saving some of the aliens.
- Borg Queen: "Congratulations." Seven: "Regarding?" Borg Queen: "Assimilation is complete." Seven: "300,000 individuals have been transformed into drones. Should they be congratulated as well?" Borg Queen: "They should be. They've left behind their trivial selfish lives and they've been reborn with a greater purpose. We've delivered them from chaos into order." Seven: "Comforting words. Use them next time instead of resistance is futile. You may elicit a few volunteers."
- The Delta Flyer approaching the unicomplex.

My Review
It becomes clear in part two that this episode is focusing on Seven of Nine's conflicting families. Her human family, her family on Voyager, and her family in the Borg. If you can call the Borg a family. The Borg Queen and Janeway struggle for control over Seven, like two parents fighting over custody. The Borg Queen's motives were never made quite clear. She said something about "letting" Voyager have Seven of Nine so she could become an individual again. We're not sure how this was supposed to help the Queen assimilate Earth. But then, the Queen never seemed quite all there to me in the first place. I was pleased overall with how the episode progressed; it was nice to see the Delta Flyer flying at transwarp, and it was nice to see Voyager got something out of the transwarp conduit. Probably the most memorable part of this episode is Seven of Nine's witnessing the assimilation of species 10026. They resisted with 39 vessels, the same number of ships that the Federation resisted with at Wolf 359. Once again, we didn't get to see much of the space battle, but we did get to see much of the brutal assimilation process, which was very well done. A great two parter.

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From Kenobie on 2011-04-13 at 1:22pm:What kind of person gives this episode a Rating of 0. I would love to hear there reason. Personally I think that if you did not enjoy this 2 parter then you can't really be a fan of Star Trek.

From Tallifer on 2011-04-24 at 6:25pm:My favourite scenes were the scientific examinations of the Hansens. Like real life zoologists risking life and limb to study tigers up close. Except even more dangerous and thrilling.

There were many other good things about this: the Borg harbour; Naomi Wildman; assimilation scenes; the wonderful queen.

From Jeff Browning on 2011-09-07 at 3:31pm:One problem you missed: the Borg Queen states that Seven is the first Borg to become an individual. But we know that's not true. Voyager has encountered Borg individuals before, and so did Enterprise. Remember Hugh?

From Alan on 2012-01-22 at 6:17am:Good point Jeff, but what about Picard in 'Best of both worlds' in TNG season3. He was assimilated by the Borg , but was saved and turned back into a human.

From thaibites on 2015-01-02 at 5:55am:I thought this 2-parter was the best I've seen from Voyager yet (chronologically). The writing was crisp, the story moved at a brisk pace with very little padding, there was action, suspense, and mystery - outstanding! The scenes where the people were being assimilated were really disturbing because of the constant screams of agony in the background - very unsettling. Even the vile holodeck worked well in this episode.
I'm a happy boy!

From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-06-22 at 1:34pm:I have to second the sentiments above. How can someone possibly give THIS episode a 0? How can there be THIRTEEN such people? What are they smoking?

Borg queen assembly, transwarp in action, Seven's "betrayal", Seven's resistance, the Hansens, Janeway at her courageous best... the queen and Janeway fighting over Seven, Naomi (who has quickly grown into an impressively strong performer and can hold her own alongside anyone), all moving, exciting, terrifying, touching, blood roiling... amazing. But, the most poignant moment for me was when Seven received Janeway's transmission "we're searching for you, try to hang on" and involuntarily responded "Captain"... wow. It was so overwhelming, I had to hit pause!

If it wasn't for a slight, continuity-related discomfort, this two-parter would be a 10. But as is, it's a 9 or 9.5, for sure.

Also, a bit of a treat for me, was seeing an episode of this magnitude where the major players were all women, without gender being an issue. The hero, the villain, the prodigal (and brilliant) protégé, all smart, all bad ass, all morally and emotionally deep (and/or complicated).... it’s not often you see such robust and dynamic women characters in a story with no male leads unless sex/gender is an explicit issue and/or the women are totally androgynous. This storyline could have easily fit male “action” stars, but just happened to be female ones. These are strong and capable women, but not “masculine” ones. And the great this is, it doesn’t matter at all to the storyline whether they’re men or women! I love that! Don’t get me wrong, I love my guys (Data, Spock, Picard, Tuvok, Doctor, Giordi, Worf, Wesley, McCoy, Trip, Odo, Kirk, Sisko,... etc. etc.... all of them), but it’s really, really, great to see the girls get a fair shake too. Here is gender equality as a matter of COURSE, not a matter of “exception”! At long last!!! Thank you, Star Trek!

From Dstyle on 2015-07-07 at 10:04am:Do you want to know why someone would rate this episode so low? It completely defangs the Borg.

So a lone, isolated Federation ship is stranded in the Delta Quadrant, cut off from the support and resources of the Federation (which incidentally lost a whole fleet of ships at Wolf 395 to a single, undamaged Borg cube), and yet somehow this lost Federation ship is able to fly a shuttlecraft undetected into the heart of Borg territory and get within transporter range of the Borg Queen? No thanks. I like my Borg terrifyingly unbeatable. Janeway, like the Hansens, got cocky: they should have been crushed like bugs.

Also, you'd think the Borg would have at some point assimilated a species that could move a little quicker, wouldn't you think? The Borg move like shuffling 1930s movie monsters.

From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-07-12 at 11:03pm:

Two words my sibling: David. Goliath. Most of us just can NOT root for David to keep losing so that Goliath can keep terrifying us to ecstasy.

Yes,the Borg are great when scary, but only cuz it's so much more awesome when our intrepid heroes find a way to best them! They were 'beaten' in Best of Both Worlds, too, and First Contact. Did you have problems with those too? Or is it just that this is a lone ship in the delta quadrant? It is the essence of heroic tales the bad guys are bigger and badder, not so that they can beat the good guys in the end but so that it's that much more satisfying when the good guys beat them!

Also, a 'low score' is one thing, but a zero??

From Rick on 2017-05-22 at 7:30pm:I agree with Dstyle (although its not a 0, Id give it a 5, which is really bad for me). The motivations of the Borg make no sense and the worst part for me is how the Delta Flyer got away. They are numerous cubes chasing them but none of them go to transwarp to catch and destroy them and voyager. Why not? Only one tiny ship sneaks into the Delta Flyer's transwarp conduit, but why dont all the other ships create their own? It makes absolutely no sense. The cubes shouldve followed the Delta Flyer and destroyed them all. You cant just outrun the Borg.

From Mike on 2017-06-07 at 12:15am:I've just never understood why they ever had to come up with a Borg Queen. I didn't like it in First Contact, and I hated it even more in this series.

The obvious answer is that they are expanding on the notion that the Borg are like bees, and giving us a villain with a face. The Hansens even say in this episode that the Borg Queen acts like the queen of an insect colony. Except that in colonies of ants or bee hives, queens don't coordinate and direct the activities of the others. They are there almost entirely for reproduction, to birth the colony's offspring. Bees and ants activities are directed by instinct and a web of communication. In other words, they act collectively, just like the Borg did when they were first conceived. They were interested only in assimilating technology and life forms. They were apolitical and amoral, with no ambitions or quest for power and resources, no cause or culture. You couldn't negotiate, make peace, or reason with them. The only way to defeat them was to somehow use their collective communication and existence against them, which is exactly what happened in TNG: Best of Both Worlds. The existence of a Queen gives the Borg a leader with almost personal, individual motives. It takes away what made them so ominous, and it also makes them much easier to defeat. THey were better when they were faceless drones.

Anyway, that's my anti-Borg Queen rant. I do like this episode for what it does with Seven's character. The dilemma she faces of hearing the collective calling her back and choosing whether to remain with her family on Voyager was a great premise for the story, and it works well overall. The assimilation of Species 10026 definitely brought back that ominous dimension to the Borg. It was so brutally efficient and so unconcerned with the individuality of the people...and left you with the eerie reminder that they've done this to thousands of worlds.

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Remarkable Scenes
- The opening scenes showing the generational ship. That's some damn nice special effects work.
- Tom: "Oh, here we go again." Harry: "What?" Tom: "You, going after impossible women. Uh, a hologram, an ex-Borg, the wrong twin, and now a girl from a xenophobic species!"
- Tom, impressed with the Varro ship, annoyed that Tuvok isn't very interested in adapting their techniques for Voyager.
- Tom killing Harry's transmission and covering for him.
- Seven of Nine's opinion on love. Hilarious.
- Harry to Tal: "You're beautiful when you're scanning."
- The generational ship coming apart.
- I love the camera work when Kim and Janeway are arguing. The camera rolls from the conference room, to the bridge, to the ready room all in one shot.
- Harry: "Maybe I'm not the perfect officer anymore." Janeway: "Maybe not. But you're a better man."

My Review
A pretty crappy premise spiced up with some interesting details. The aliens of the week were quite interesting, and their generational ship was both an awesome concept and visually spectacular. Tom once again takes a perverse pleasure in making fun of Harry's female escapades, and Harry gets in a lot of trouble for not taking Tom's advice. I also rather liked the detail when Tom prevented Harry from getting caught early in the episode. Too bad he couldn't protect him full time. ;) The contention between Harry and Janeway is well presented and nicely dramatic and the contention between the conservatives and the dissidents on the generational ship was equally compelling. My only complaint about the episode is the distinct lack of consequences. Once again, introducing a new character such as this warrants recurrence, something I've complained about since TOS. But we don't get it. Anyway, the episode was a nice ride. I liked it.

Fan Commentary (7)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From David Chambers on 2009-06-30 at 1:42pm:Just an observation; Anyone notice how Harry's accent changes when he's arguing with Janeway. It seems to become (I stand to be corrected) more 'Korean'.

From Jeff Browning on 2011-09-07 at 9:40pm:I found Harry's decision to remain with Voyager to be reprehensible. He causes Tal, a beautiful alien woman to fall in love with him. Problem is for that species love is a physical bond which requires years to recover from, and carries grave risk if not continued, possibly even death. Despite this, and although Harry is supposedly devoted to Tal, he abandons her to her fate. Obviously, he would have been free to either join her, or have her join him. I would have found either ending much more satisfying. Certainly, Harry's supposed "love" for Tal is shown to be very shallow, given his callous disregard for her welfare.

From Inga on 2013-12-12 at 3:51pm:I really hate those cheesy "one day romance" plots. Those cheap love stories with zero chemistry have become a sort of plot device in Star Trek.

From thaibites on 2015-01-07 at 5:18am:I knew this one would suck because every time there's an outstanding episode like Dark Frontier, the next one is awful.

From Dstyle on 2015-07-07 at 1:13pm:"I'm violating about half a dozen regulations by just being in this room. And what we did earlier... (chuckle) I don't know if Starfleet even has a regulation for that. Except, you know, that regulation I quote to Janeway later in the episode, from the manual that is 3 centimeters thick. I guess maybe Starfleet has a regulation for this after all. Not that anyone reads it or cares about it, though--probably because it's printed on paper for some reason. James Kirk, Will Riker, Tom Paris, Harry Kim. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? It's like the Mount Rushmore of Interstellar Booty Calls! Yeah, nevermind Tal: I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get in trouble for this at all. Now back in that bed! Let's get all glowy again!"

Okay, ignoring the fact that inter-species sexy time happens ALL THE TIME in Star Trek, I thought this episode was actually pretty great. It was visually stunning, with that amazing opening shot of the ship that pans right into Tal's quarters and the long, single-take shot during Janeway and Kim's argument. And Harry Kim, a character who is usually just a wet mop in a Starfleet uniform, is actually pretty interesting and relatable here. And since this "disease" will take months to get over I look forward to seeing him broken and lovesick for the rest of the season (HAHAHAHA just kidding with that last part obviously: we all know he'll be completely back to normal next episode).

From Smoking Blonde on 2016-02-03 at 11:53am:She is so pretty. She also says Har weeee which makes me laugh.

From Martin on 2016-04-18 at 1:45am:Nice episode, decent plot, above average filler.
Still, there's something i've got to tell about this one: When janeway speaks to chakotay about reprimeading harry, she says, and i quote: You're my first officer, he's an ensing! He hasn't earned the right to question my orders, whatever he's personal views. endquote

That does the trick for me right there. That reminder of our own hierarchical system and values, and, IMO, those values are against the hole federation's ideologies and phylosofies.

Anyway, i give this one a 6, just above average.

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Factoids
- This episode is a candidate for my "Worst Episode of Voyager Award."

Remarkable Scenes
None

My Review
A sequel to Voy: Demon. The writers could have picked any number of wonderful episodes to write sequels to, but no, they had to pick one of the worst episodes they've ever done to write a sequel to. This episode inherits all of the problems both technical and logical of that episode and introduces a few more. It seems the "silver blood" was able to not just duplicate the crew, but the entire ship itself, which seems unlikely to me. Not only this, but the duplicated crew created an enhanced warp drive, which can take them to Earth in just two years! A completely unnecessary and absurd detail. That said, there are some nice details in this episode. For example, I liked the attention to detail with Tom as a Lieutenant, not an ensign, because this Tom never broke the rules in Voy: Thirty Days. But since the whole story takes place on an alternate Voyager and we only see the real heroes for a small time, this episode contributes almost nothing to the overall story and is hardly worth watching at all.

Fan Commentary (11)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Sir Brando on 2006-05-10 at 12:59pm:The idea behind this episode may be flawed, but it is still very unique. It gives you a very creepy feeling. I like it.. it's not the best but I don't think it deserves a 0. just my opinion!

From Pete Miller on 2006-11-25 at 11:37pm:HAHAHAHA!!! I was watching this episode, and thinking that I was about to give it a zero because I didn't even consider it canon, and then I see you've already made the same conclusion. You wonder what the hell the writers were thinking. Or should I say what kind of alcoholic depression binge they were on. Besides the complete absurdity of the episode and the fact that it has absolutely no effect on anything, it also happens to be DEPRESSING as FUCK!!!! Wow. Thanks for tying up that loose end, writers. This episode really contributes a lot.

Zero. Second episode of Voyager to get one.

From Tony on 2008-09-26 at 3:13pm:My opinion is slightly diferent; I think that the idea of bringing back the duplicated crew from "Demon" was a good one (despite the obvious flaw of the entire ship having been duplicated), but the writer(s) did not create a story that create a story that lived up to the potential of that idea, or even come close. All we get to see is the entire duplicated crew die with hardly a storyline at all. A better idea would have been to have Voyager and duplicated Voyager discover each other and try to find out why there are two of them, then have the duplicates begin to degrade, they discover that the real Voyager is causing duplicated Voyager to degrade and they also find out what duplicated Voyager is. Now that the degradation has been started, it cannot be stopped. As a side story, hostile aliens couls have attacked the real Voyager at the beginning, and were driven off. They attack again, but because the aliens are only aware of one Voyager, duplicated Voyager sacrifices themselves to make the aliens think Voyager is destroied and the rear Voyager can continue on it's way. But no, we have to watch a dumb story of people dieing that deserves a zero.

From Tallifer on 2011-04-25 at 7:12pm:10/10

This story is an extremely moving tragedy. Up until the end we are given some sliver of hope that something good can still happen for this doomed crew. We come to identify fully with the plight of these "people" who are fighting for their "humanity" and "Federation values."

It is a fascinating coda to an equally interesting story. Star Trek was ever brilliant for this kind of story: a once-told short story. Episodic television can be terrific: forty minutes of speculation, drama and escape. Not everything needs to be a twenty-six part epic arc like the dreary Battlestar Galactica.

From spline on 2014-01-26 at 6:18am: "I think it's an episode people either love or hate," observed Nick Sagan. "The 'hate' category seems to say, 'Why do we follow a crew that isn't even our regular crew?' and they feel cheated. But it really is the story about the poignancy of Voyager's journey. There's something about trying really hard and not being quite able to achieve it, which is a reality to a lot of people [....] [The episode's] about a need to be remembered, a need to be recorded, and that's the special tragedy about making a log, a kind of capsule – we know that the 'Demon' crew dies. It's about loss and remembering, death and grief."

I'm with Tallifer. I think those who give this silly ratings like 0 or 1 are being unjust and hypocritical. How many pointless episodes about Harry Kim's love life, alien of the week, shuttlecrash of the week, and reset buttons get a pass? Ninety percent of this series' episodes do not advance the overall plot *at all*. And criticizing it because it's not the "real" crew utterly misses the entire point of the story.

This is a 9/10 episode easily, one of the best of the series.

From spline on 2014-01-26 at 6:50am:Also, one last thing to think about:

The writers also wanted to leave certain issues unresolved. "We didn't want to answer a lot of questions," Ken Biller stated, "like, how long has that ship been out there? Some of the episodes that we saw earlier in the season, was it that crew? Or was it the real crew? It's kind of intriguing to think about."

(quotes from Memory Alpha)

From janus on 2014-10-16 at 6:05am:An episode which tests issues of personal identity, loyalty and motivation to destruction (literally!)

When Janeway says that she's determined to get them home, only to be reminded that *their* home is a demon-class planet in the Delta Quadrant, and when Harry Kim is told that, even if they did get "home" to Earth, his family would not want a duplicate of their real son, but only the original, we see a fundamental conflict which cannot be hand-waved away - and that is *true* drama.

That it starts with Tom and B'Elanna's wedding, and ends with Voyager's destruction, makes clear that the writers meant to create a truly tragic episode. That the probe with the record of all of their mission-data is lost, and that the other Voyager encounters only their wreckage, adds to the tragedy, and maybe even makes us contemplate our own mortality.

On a side-note, how is it "unlikely" that a fictional substance could perfectly replicate a human being (complete with past memories!) but couldn't replicate inanimate ship components, too? It seems no more unlikely than time travel, which violates our understanding of physics but happens in science fiction all the time.
Also, it seems irrelevant to object that this isn't the real crew, since they have the same personalities and memories; what about the *backup* Doctor in Living Witness? He's also "just" a copy.

Let's be honest: plot devices like these are a dramatic conceit. The real point is that, given the setup, the characters act in a consistent and believable way, so that we can relate to their feelings and choices, and be invested in the consequences.

Of all the stories which show Voyager's crew trying to get home, this is the only one which explores what it would mean, to them and us, if they failed. (Voyager's destruction in Year of Hell was done knowing that it should restore the former timeline.)

Just for that, this episode is exceptional.

10/10

PS: This one reminds me a lot of DS9 "Whispers", which I also liked. Our reviewer gave that a low score too, so at least I'm (or we're) consistent. ;)

From thaibites on 2015-01-20 at 8:04pm:When the story opened with Paris and Ms. Miserable getting married, I thought "Oh no, not another stupid soap opera episode!" Luckily, I hung in there and found a quirky little episode that managed to take Voyager out of its predictable rut.

1) Why is it so unbelievable that the ship was copied? If you think that the holodeck is believable, then you're just being a hypocrite. How many times have we seen the holodeck defy physics and make a room into a huge outdoor scene where people walk for miles. Now that's unbelievable!

2) The copy crew needed to have an enhanced warp drive so they could be ahead of the real Voyager and almost meet them on the way back. (I wonder if this causes problems in the future for the real Voyager. Maybe they'll run into aliens that the copy crew had a problem with?)

3) I liked the fact that the copy crew was allowed to die at the end. They violated the crew of Voyager and were an abomination in the eyes of the Lord! Star Trek endings are too nice and orderly, and it was nice to see something different for a change. With X-Files being so popular during this time period, you would think Berman et al would emulate them more often.

It's obvious this is an episode that people either love or hate. The little gayrods that act like Comicbook Guy on the Simpsons hate it because it doesn't fit into their nice, orderly Start Trek canon world. These people obviously have never had sex with another human, and their real lives are more meaningless than the copy crew's. The people who love this episode are free-thinkers and lovers of science-fiction (NOT soap operas in space). These people long for Berman and friends to push the boundaries of ST in the great tradition of Gene Roddenberry. I think this episode does that quite nicely!

From Dstyle on 2015-07-08 at 11:06pm:Before watching the episode I came to this site to check it's rating and almost gave it a pass as a result, but I decided to watch it because the fan rating was just a little below average. Boy, I sure am glad I watched this one: one of my favorites of the season so far.

I guess it definitely is a love it or hate it kind of episode, and I can respect the opinions of those who thought it was a weak episode. Personally, I enjoy science fiction that utilizes the possibilities of a technologically advanced future to explore abstract philosophical problems in a tangible way. Remember Tuvix, and that whole episode that used transporter technology to explore the nature of identity and individuality? To me this felt like an episode in the same vein. What if you discovered that you were not really you, and that the real "you" was out there in the world somewhere living a separate existence? Is your existence any less authentic? What would it take for you to accept that you are the copy and not the other way around? (In this case, it was extreme physical degradation: evidence that you are, in fact, a lesser copy.) Do your experiences and feelings still have value? Should you be afforded the same respect that the "real" you had earned? It was fascinating, and I found the end to be rather beautiful and poignant.

I'm going to resist the urge to pick apart kethinov's review line by line, with the exception of the final line. Watch this episode. Yeah, you might hate it, but it's a "you love it or you hate it" kind of episode. Don't deny yourself the opportunity of finding out which you are.

From dominic on 2016-06-10 at 12:00am:It doesn't matter that they're not the "real" crew. They think they are, they react the same way the real crew would, and they are just as heartbroken when they realize they will never see Earth.

From tigertooth on 2017-06-20 at 12:06am:I was okay with the premise. Some of the flaws that have been mentioned hurt it a bit, but I could deal with it.

To me, the main problem was that outside of the premise, the episode was just kinda boring. It's like 45 minutes of "we're melting" and then they die. There's no dramatic arc. From the moment they learn the truth until the end, nothing really happens except slow decay and death.

I wonder if they should have held off the reveal that they were all duplicates for a while longer. Like they realize it's related to the Demon planet, then they start to think that they're being infected by their duplicates. They could even given a technobabble explanation of how a duplicate Voyager could have been created. They run into the other Voyager, thinking it's the duplicate. Then they come to realize they're the duplicates. Then you go to the valiant sacrifice idea somebody mentioned earlier. At least it would have given them something to do....

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Problems
- Janeway orders Chakotay to the bridge. But apparently he didn't think her order was all that important or anything, despite the red alert, because he felt he had time to change into uniform first.

My Review
A decent attempt at an episode, but too much time is wasted on confusion and fighting. The "chaotic space" was also slightly absurd, but the general idea behind a region of space inhabited by aliens that are too different for us to interact with is a nice idea and is nicely, if briefly explored here. I really liked the end of the episode where Chakotay is having DS9 style prophet-like visions in order to speak to the aliens, but I think ultimately the aliens were not sufficiently explored at all and the episode suffers from it as it seemed to drag on needlessly.

Fan Commentary (3)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Richard on 2012-12-13 at 12:28am:It's really not such a bad episode. It advances the Star trek scientific framework pretty solidly, and deserves to be canon - although it clearly did not come off as the writers intended. The notion of "chaotic space", where the laws of physics are in constant flux, is a rich and plausible one. Boothby is a great character. But the narrative is sluggish and unconvincing in several spots, as if poorly edited. Beltran's performance is somewhat stilted, with way too much dissonance with Chakotay's established character traits.

From L on 2014-04-20 at 2:36am:God, utterly awful. The previous episode about the doomed clones was way better than this.
An episode that amounts to an over-emoted hallucination in a boxing ring? No thanks Star Trek.

From Dstyle on 2015-07-10 at 9:39am:I have no interest in watching this episode again, but if I did I'd time the hallucination sequences to see how much of the episode they took up (answer=too much). I'm sure hallucination sequences are fun to shoot and edit together, but they sure are a drag to watch.

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Problems
- Chakotay speculates that the Malon or the Devore might have hired the Hazari in this episode. This is extremely unlikely though seeing as how Voyager is nowhere near their space as of Voy: Dark Frontier. Thankfully, Chakotay was wrong. Though it doesn't excuse is rather absurd speculation.

My Review
A decently intellectual episode featuring a group of people who solve other people's problems for a price. Except sometimes they create the problems which they are supposed to solve... Jason Alexander does a wonderful job as Kurros, showing us the same deceitful and conniving personality he showed us as George on Seinfeld. The issue of whether Seven of Nine would be better off with them is both unimportant and barely examined; it was obvious Seven was not leaving the ship. Rather, I liked how Janeway solved her little paradox by conspiring with her would-be enemy to undermine the objectives of the Think Tank itself. It is a little convenient that the Hazari actually cared so passionately about dethroning the Think Tank, but it's too much to the episode's disadvantage. I also like how Janeway's solution nicely paralleled with the little futuristic puzzle B plot. The episode is exciting up to the very end, I loved the battle scenes between the Think Tank and the Hazari. A shame they were so short!

Fan Commentary (1)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Jem Hadar on 2010-04-05 at 8:04pm:"Jason Alexander does a wonderful job as Kurros, showing us the same deceitful and conniving personality she showed us as George on Seinfeld."

Typo, or funny diss? ;)

I thought this was a very good episode with an interesting story.

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Problems
- Does Malon territory really extend for tens of thousands of light years? I'd have thought that after Voy: Dark Frontier, Voyager would be long through it by now. Though Chakotay does say, "I thought we'd seen the last of them." I wonder if that line was a reference to the poor timing.

Factoids
- The Malon ship had 42 decks. Impressive.

Remarkable Scenes
- The Malon playing with his ship model.
- Torres: "You as a child. Those pointy little ears. You must have been cute." Tuvok: "Indeed."
- Tuvok's meditation session with Torres.
- Torres: "I suppose it's always going to be like this." Tom: "Like what?" Torres: "Me against the galaxy." Tom: "Well the galaxy doesn't stand a chance."
- The tricorder signals causing electrical surges.
- Torres' fighting the disgruntled Malon.
- Voyager altering the Malon ship's trajectory.
- Fesek: "It's an occupational hazard." I like how he said this three times, each for different reasons. :)
- Seeing a sonic shower in action! And boy did Torres need that shower...

My Review
As I pointed out in the problems section, it seems unlikely that the Malon would be out this far away from their territory, but maybe this episode's script was originally intended to be aired earlier in the season. Once you get past this fairly severe problem with the premise though, the episode is quite entertaining. I especially like the insight we get into Malon culture. We get to learn a bit about the personal lives of a few of them and see that they're not monsters, just a little philosophically misguided. Besides the cultural insight, the episode maintains a fairly high and convincing level of tension and action. And of course, it's Torres' episode. She puts up a convincing display as a person struggling to control her emotions, as she always has. Maybe the whole episode might have been more appropriate earlier in the season when the Malon were still around and Torres was still struggling to deal with the deaths of the Maquis, but it's not too far out of place here and I enjoyed it.

Fan Commentary (5)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From 2 of 14 on 2009-10-22 at 10:49am:Perhaps the Malon simply travel this far out of their territory to find suitably uninhabited areas in which to dump their lethal cargo. Fesek did actually tell Torres she had no idea how much effort the Malon went through to locate suitable locations for their toxic waste. Sort of like an Earth sea vessel travelling into the ocean zone of another nation to illegally dump waste.

From Gul Darhe'el on 2012-04-04 at 10:25am:One of the best aspects of TNG, DS9, and Voyager is getting to watch the characters grow and change throughout the series. The character growth aspect holds true for every character in these series, except one -- Torres. Here we are in Season 5 and she is still the immature, volatile, half Klingon from Season 1. Running holodeck programs with the safety protocols off, breaking the doctors camera, etc. I know the writers wanted to get as much mileage as possible out of her anger, but unfortunately they never let her character grow beyond a spontaneous tantrum thrower who just happens to be a brilliant engineer.

From onlinebroker on 2012-04-10 at 11:03am:2 of 14, your explanation would be good, if that same malon hadn't told Torres that he's a sculpturer in his "dayjob", so it makes no sense that they would have travelled 10 years.
He also said that his lifespan would be cut in half, so it makes even less sense, that these trips would take even a few years.

From Hugo on 2015-01-18 at 3:55pm:The long range scan detects massive amounts of technobabble ahead!!!
I think there are loads of problems in this episode (in addition to Malon and the distance), and the story did not engage me. I do appreciate the look into the Malon's society though.
* I don't buy that they have some much problem finding a place to dump the waste, even in ST the galaxy is not that densely populated, and in the end they are throwing the freighter into a star, which seems to be ok - radiation/pollution-wise
* Why not send the doctor to the ship? He would have no problems with the radiation or breating.
* it is odd that the physiology of Malon, Neelix and humans is so close that they can use the same medication without any problems
* I got annoyed when B'Elanna tried to reason with the bad guy in the end, while the clock was ticking...

From Mike on 2017-06-09 at 7:07pm:I have to agree, Gul Darhe'el. I don't know if it was the writers intention for Torres' character or if they just didn't see any potential with Dawson, or if they were just too focused on other characters. But by this season, Torres had long become very irritating to watch. Her dealings with Fesek in this one are especially annoying because it's almost as if they are wanting the audience to tire of her baseless hostility.

But, speaking of Fesek, it was a pleasure once again to see Ron Canada. He was great in TNG: The Masterpiece Society, and was truly excellent in DS9: Rules of Engagement as the Klingon advocate accusing Worf. And I agree that he gives us an interesting look at the Malon beyond what we've seen so far. They have good reasons, in their minds, for doing what they do. Some are purely profit-driven, like Emck in VOY: Night, while Fesek is doing this because he believes it's worthwhile.

onlinebroker, he says he only sculpts half the year, and the rest he spends aboard the waste disposal freighter. All during this episode, I couldn't help but think of people working oil drills in Alaska, or fishing for king crab. High paying jobs that only require a few months labor each year, but extremely hazardous with a high burnout/injury or even death rate.

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Factoids
- There are 146 crewmembers aboard Voyager according to Neelix.
- Voyager was designed for long range deep space exploration according to Neelix.
- According to the doctor, species 8472 may have as many as 5 sexes...

Remarkable Scenes
- Torres discovering that Seven of Nine is following her and Tom.
- Torres: "How the hell do you know when we're having intimate relations?" Seven: "There is no one on deck nine, section twelve who doesn't know when you're having intimate relations."
- Torres: "Borg provokes Klingon. Klingon breaks Borg's nose."
- Janeway: "This is a starship, not a nature preserve." Not exact, but I'll count it. Count 31 for "I'm a doctor, not a (blah)" style lines, which McCoy was famous for.
- The doctor: "They say gossip travels faster than warp speed."
- The doctor: "You're a woman, Seven." Seven: "Is that an observation or a diagnosis?"
- The doctor's silly slideshow.
- Seven of Nine attempting poorly to get a holographic date.
- Tom making a bet with the doctor.
- The doctor: "Seven, has anyone ever told you you have have a beautiful voice? It's a true gift!" Seven: "The gift is from the Collective. A vocal subprocessor designed to facilitate the sonic interface for Borg transponders."
- Seven of Nine's "flawless" singing, along with the duet.
- Harry discussing Seven of Nine's date candidate selection.
- Seven of Nine asking out Chapman.
- Seven of Nine's behavior on the date.
- Seven of Nine tearing a ligament in Chapman's arm.
- The drunken ambassador.

My Review
This episode is original and a nice change of pace. Neelix' role with the alien ambassador is a lot like the Enterprise crew's roles with the alien ambassadors in TNG: Liaisons (especially Troi's ambassador), which is certainly a compliment. But Seven of Nine steals the show. I don't know whether her attempts to start dating are embarrassing or hilarious to watch, maybe a little of both. The episode is almost tragic, as the doctor desires a relationship with Seven, but is unable to bring himself to ask her out. Maybe he felt it would be a conflict of interest, or maybe he feels more content in a fatherly role than as a lover. In any case, the mingling of the two plot threads worked extremely well and ended up being one of Voyager's surprisingly better episodes. I like being pleasantly surprised.

Fan Commentary (3)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Rob UK on 2013-10-26 at 7:08am:I enjoy this episode for the quirky backdoor feelings and insight you get into the crew and life onboard, the confrontation about hearing the intimate relations was great, being on a starship in the future is like living in a tower block in modern day, i could do a nature reserve study on any one of my neighbors with great accuracy.

The key swing comedy factor for me is the doctors slideshow

"Here we see how fortress ovum is besieged by countless little warriors" with all the arm movements and hand gestures is a classic.

From thaibites on 2015-02-13 at 7:56pm:Another horrendous soap opera episode that gets an 8 rating from HRM Eric Newport. Are you people all gay? Unbelievable...

From parkbench on 2016-02-12 at 4:54am:well, a truly mediocre episode with lackluster pacing and based purely on the novelty of seeing the characters in a banal situation. but rather than explore this in any profound way or use it to get behind some of the themes of voyager, we get more voyager aimless meandering--another crappy love interest episode that star trek is famous for, recycling a hundred stereotypes a minute and wielding them all in the least-thought out, least creative and safest character on the show--seven of nine, unfortunately little more than eye-candy in most of the episodes. it's like they felt bad for having janeway for the first few seasons and had to pander even more than they usually do. so embarrassing.

apparently the writing for this one was so bad that it caused the above commenter to lower several grades of intelligence and equate mediocrity with emotions, and emotions with gay people. the discovery of the century, no doubt. i fear for this (no doubt) man, anyone who must care for him, and whatever offspring he may one day produce. be on the lookout for profound moments like this one. oh, i'm gay, by the way.

anyway, back to seven. really i can't stand most episodes about her, because they read like poor imitations of Data episodes, and even some of those aren't that amazing! i found myself compelled to skip at the beginning and now wish i had.

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Problems
- Harry's story about his uncle Jack in 2210 contradicts much of established Star Trek history. But with all the historical misconceptions this episode shows us, I'm inclined to believe Harry got his history wrong.

Factoids
None

Remarkable Scenes
- Shannon O'Donnell predicting that the Y2k bug is nonsense. Bold statement for an episode written in 1999.
- Seven of Nine eavesdropping on Tom's and Neelix' contest. When both could not provide an answer to what the seventh wonder of the world was, Seven recited it.
- The doctor: "I too come from a distinguished line." Paris: "His cousin is an electric shaver."
- Chakotay: "Ship status report." Janeway: "Let me guess. The holographic engineer is having problems with her program, Neelix, the Cardassian cook is low on supplies, Seven of Twelve is regenerating, and Captain Chakotay is doing just fine."

My Review
Well I'm not the only fan who found this episode distasteful. The fundamental problem with this episode is that it contributes nothing to the overall story of Voyager. It's nothing but a "feel good" episode for the crew; they all want to get together and tell stories of genealogy and feel good about themselves. There is no contention, other than Janeway's recollection of history isn't as accurate as she thought it was, nor would Kim's be as I would imagine from his tall tale! As for the story of Shannon O'Donnell, that's where the episode starts to get offensive. Henry Janeway is portrayed as a man against progress and for reasons not sufficiently explored, the Millennium Gate was regarded as an undisputed symbol of progress. To me, it seemed absurd that the whole town has to close down so that "progress" could be achieved. The US is a huge place, surely there were other locations available that didn't require bulldozing old buildings! Additionally, it's annoying that the writers just couldn't resist to make an episode exploiting the whole Y2k craze, virtually the only redeeming quality of its inclusion is Shannon's declaration that it was/will be/is total nonsense. This episode bears striking similarity to the similar waste of time that was DS9: Take Me Out to the Holosuite, but the differences is that DS9's version had contention, humor, fun, and a meaningful ending. Voy: 11:59 just didn't. It was mostly pointless and if it weren't for a few funny moments spread lightly across the plot, it would receive a de facto zero.

Fan Commentary (6)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Pete Miller on 2006-12-04 at 2:43pm:I didn't think this episode was that bad. It was kind of stupid in a lot of parts, but the humor was great and the story was pretty cool. It added something about the self-sustaining ecosystems later used on Mars, so it's not like it doesn't contribute ANYTHING. Contributes more than "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" that's for sure.

Voyager meets Fargo, minus murder

From Mike on 2008-08-10 at 8:46am:Yeah I think you missed the boat on this review.

1) The theme of 'the negative impact of progress' is rarely shown on the generally optimistic ST. Here we see at least a bit of a human cost to building something like the "millennium gate".

2) The 'its a self-sustaining city' vs. 'its just a mall' theme brings up another ST issue. This isn't the optimistic 60s anymore, and we're not going to get a massive government-funded space program. Progress is going to be done by corporations, or its not going to be done at all. So that means profit and exploitation, symbolized here by the destruction of the small town way of life.

3) The theme of "revisionist history" is a rare one in popular culture. It also ties this episode to 'Living Witness'.

The episode was FAR from perfect, and the ending was incredibly rushed (all of those ends tied up). But it's a very thoughtful and intelligent episode.

From Baronvonellis on 2011-09-28 at 11:36pm:I liked this alot. It was very well done and thoughtful. It was also a nice change of pace from all the explosions and "shields down to 20%" junk that is in every other episode.

I feel like people are too critical of Voyager compared to TNG. This was very trek and explored alot of scientific and culturally issues in an entertaining story. What more do you want from it.

From Rick on 2013-01-10 at 3:48pm:Boy, this have to be a tough episode for a liberal to watch. Do you root for the large corporation or the conservative that its trying to bulldoze? Tough choice.

I thought it was a very good episode for the reason that an above poster made. The liberalism going on now is mostly through large corporate entities looking to monetize any trend they can.

From Hugo Ahlenius on 2015-01-30 at 4:27pm:So he has a giant bookstore with no customers, in a small town - doesn't a buyout deal with a good price sound pretty decent? I didn't find their chemistry and connection worked out very well. The history/reveal stuff was a tad interesting though. Felt mostly like a soap/tv-movie otherwise...

From parkbench on 2016-02-20 at 2:57pm:I have to say I am really shocked at how negatively the site's author reacted to this episode. I'm glad some commentors came with a counterbalance, because this was one of the best episodes I have seen in awhile. Let me explain...

I have gotten to a point w/ Voyager where I usually keep it on in the background, even when I'm watching a brand new episode--why? Because the writing is so consistently mediocre, there are so many missed opportunities, so many actors straightjacketed by milquetoast dialogue that they come off as outrageously corny or artificially human, that it's hard to watch sometimes. But I love Star Trek, so I power through--and perhaps this is what the site's author really had a problem with.

Because having a "non-sequitur" episode isn't, in and of itself, a bad thing--what's bad is that Voyager is so aimless and so grasping for straws that when an episode like this comes along, all the storytelling could appear, to the untrained eye, to just be more meandering away from the plot.

But if you pay attention, this was a very lovingly crafted episode with tons of real social & political themes which, though flawed, drives to the very heart of the scifi and Star Trek formula: reflecting on the fragile potential of mankind.

If anyone--site author included--is surprised about the plotline, then they could do with some reading. Almost every major sporting event, from the NFL to the Olympics, major development project in the U.S. or elsewhere, major cultural site or monument, runs into this issue: and it's not pretty.

In fact, though the episode sort of gives out its legs towards the end--pitching the story as one merely about "progress" vs. "tradition", "the future vs. the past"--this is often what the (real-life) script looks like. Major projects want the prime real estate, not just random land in the middle of nowhere, and they will often do anything they can to get it. I have been to a major park in Kentucky that is totally rustic except for 2 or 3 random houses smack dab in the middle that STILL have functioning mailboxes and families living in them because they refused to cede their land, so the park built around them.

Hell, look at the railroads, the colonisation and destruction of indigenous lands that made most of this country possible, or even just any major fracking or resource-extraction project. Look at Appalachia, the health problems the majority of its residents face, the polluted water (a la Flint), the unemployment, joblessness, and total abandonment by the very powers that claimed they had come to save the area.

And when it comes to Olympic stadiums, it has been shown time and again that the promise of "business", jobs, and cultural notoriety is short-lived, while the costs are consistently stacked against the poor: people are evicted and streets are cleansed of any hint of poverty or decay, rent is driven up, and a temporary luxury economic bubble is created mostly for people from out of town to come and be a part of a brief media spectacle. And then what? It all leaves and usually what's left is like a monorail in a dying, de-industrialised town: a big eyesore that has done nothing but contribute to the already-existing massive inequalities and disparities between people living very different realities in these urban landscapes.

Or just look up the city of Shenzhen in China, which in the 1970s was a small fishing town. Through the incredible macro-social acrobatics of giant multinational firms and international finance capital, they systematically turned this tiny town into a (now eerily-familiar) post-apocalyptic landscape of a metropolis, hyper-polluted and hyper-segregated between the lower classes of workers and dagongmei and the business elites whose sole purpose in living there is to extract every bit of value they can from it before they leave. And I encourage you to do your own research if you don't believe me--have a look at any number of the problems facing the average citizen in Shenzhen, and tell me if the "progress" the town was granted was not a Pyrrhic victory.

This is the actual world we live in. It's not sci-fi, it's horrific shit. So if sci-fi manages to even reflect a PIECE of that, I'm all ears, because it's rare and it's brave to have that kind of honesty.

So my point is--the show, to a point, actually accurately depicts a lot of this dynamic, showing what community complacence OR resistance can look like (many people take the pay-out, while others launch grassroots media campaigns). It also hints at some kind of corporate exploitation, as some in the comments have noted; but as I said before, I wish this didn't end in a simple "past vs. future" morality tale. They bring up the idea of the "big shopping mall" and just leave it there; I wish more of the supposed benefits vs. deficits had really been teased out, so that if they really ultimately wanted Janeway to close his shop, it would be less an easy victory (we, the viewers, unconsciously want O'Donnell and Janeway to be together and a happy conclusion) and more of a melancholy turning-point, as the town's independence becomes subordinate to this massive social-engineering project--the times indeed they are a-changin'.

And that's another thing--it was a really neat narrative trick to tell us the conclusion of the plot and then to reconstruct it. Not the first time we've ever seen this, but seeing how well Shannon O'Donnell and Janeway get along, but knowing what must happen according to "history", creates a lot of mystery and curiosity in how it's all going to go down.

And speaking of narrative tricks, how about an "earth episode" that didn't boil down to some crazy holodeck caper but actually filled in, however messily (as ST is wont to do), the universe's actual timeline? That was very welcome for me.

Again, hearing Harry talk about his family, or Janeway talking about the fragilities of reconstructing history was a huge breath of fresh air for me. This was a script with real pacing, with dialogue that actually expanded on the plot and enriched the story's world, and reflected real themes while deepening them through an imaginative thought-scenario. Its flaw is less in the episode itself than in the whole trajectory of Voyager that allows a gem like this to be buried so mercilessly under layers upon layers of colorless dust.

And I suppose, coming to expect less than mediocrity from Voyager, I am willing to be forgiving about an offering that doesn't exactly "advance" the plot--I mean, this was the original idea of Voyager, wasn't it? "Return" to the old TOS style, have a "general missrion" peppered with vignettes? I will always think this is inferior to the DS9 formula, but as a one-off, it's mighty fine.

I was amazed, too, when at one point I became lost in Kate Mulgrew's acting, during one of the later scenes where Shannon and Janeway are arguing in the library. And I found myself thinking, really? Her? Well, for starters, it's because she's rarely given the breathing room to use all the skills of her trade. That is, they actually wrote her a dynamic character! And she clearly has fun with it. It was a pleasure to see her as a true actress and not as a two-bit daytime space opera mouthpiece for once.

Give this to me over any stupid episode about men and women and dating and uninspired gender stereotypes that plagues this series, any half-brained Buck Rogers adventure that thinks it's a parody of the past but is really a parody of itself, or overwrought melodrama filled with fake gravitas. This was a sensitive, if flawed, offering, and gives me a little faith that the Voyager series is not completely screwed, as long as they keep these writers on board somewhere in there.

Thanks again to kethinov for maintaining the site.

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Problems
- While the activation of the doctor in this episode at Utopia Planitia was funny, it largely contradicts his repeated previous statements that he was first activated in Voy: Caretaker.

Factoids
- Borg species designation: 329, Kazon.
- The Dali Paradox, also known as the "melting clock effect", refers to a temporal fissure which slows the passage of time to a gradual halt.
- The Pogo Paradox: Causality loop in which interference to prevent an event actually triggers same event. Seven of Nine cites the events of Star Trek VIII: First Contact as an example of the Pogo Paradox.

Remarkable Scenes
- The sight of the Utopia Planitia shipyards.
- Seven of Nine wandering around in Voyager's past.
- Carey appearance.
- The sight of the Federation timeship Relativity.
- Braxton: "Tempus fugit." (Latin for "time flies.")
- The doctor: "The next time your human physiology fails you, don't consult the database. Just call me." Seven: "You are the database."
- The ping pong ball freezing in mid air. Harry to Tom: "What do you call that shot?" When the ping pong bull unfroze, I like how Neelix gave Tom his point for scoring. :)
- The doctor: "An injection a day keeps space sickness away!"
- Temporal paradoxes beginning to occur throughout the ship.
- Seven of Nine discussing temporal paradoxes aboard the Relativity.
- Braxton bitching about "the Janeway factor" referencing events from Voy: Future's End.
- Seven: "I can't answer your questions." Braxton, listening on the Relativity: "Good." Janeway: "Why not?" Seven: "It would be a violation of the Temporal Prime Directive." Janeway: "You're from another time?" Seven: "Yes." Braxton: "No!"
- The hunt for the future Braxton.
- Ducane explaining all the temporal paradoxes and cleaning up the timeline.
- Janeway: "Let me get this straight. I'm going back in time to stop Braxton. But you already have him?" Ducane: "And there's a third one in our brig. I arrested him earlier today. But don't worry. They'll all be reintegrated in time for the trial." Janeway: "And Seven?" Ducane: "Oh, I assure you, when all this is over there'll only be one Seven of Nine." Janeway: "All right, let's get started before my headache gets any worse."
- Janeway traveling back in time, interacting briefly with Torres, seeing herself walk down a corridor, then apprehending Braxton.
- Janeway: "See you in the 24th century." Seven: "I look forward to it. Or should I say backward?"

My Review
A very complicated, but extremely fun episode. It's nice to see a bit more of that odd 29th century. A Federation "timeship" denotes a whole fleet of starships with high time travel capabilities in the 29th century Federation. It also tells us that the Federation will still be around in the 29th century. Kind of a spoiler for those of us following the Dominion war, perhaps. Perhaps not. ;) You've got to wonder about the whole plausibility of this episode. I wonder how much work there actually is in repairing the timeline from anomalous influences, or exactly how the physics of it all works. A detailed analysis of the various causes and effects of certain types of time travel technologies would be warranted, though I think with careful planning it might be possible to base a Star Trek series in the 29th century. They could even take the name often used as a parody, "Time Trek", for many fans have complained about frequent time travel episodes. Overall, I found the return of Braxton, the complex approach toward time travel, and the Voyager crew's (especially Janeway's) reaction to the time travel most entertaining. This episode is among Voyager's best.

Fan Commentary (6)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Vincent on 2011-10-09 at 10:58pm:In this episode, Braxton cites his time in the 20h century as a reason to try to eliminate Voyager from the timeline. However, if I recall correctly, after the events of Future's End, Braxton says he never experienced that timeline. This is only a minor problem in a very entertaining episode.

From Wes on 2012-03-02 at 9:29am:Isn't it a problem that Seven went to Voyager in dry dock in the beginning and the weapon was already placed, yet it was already placed? Then, she went into the FUTURE (to the battle with the Kazon) not into the PAST to find when the device was placed. What!? You go into the future to find the guy placing the device who actually placed the device in the past. That's a real temporal paradox--one that seems like it was more of a major problem that the writers chose to look over to include Utopia Planetia in this episode and something familiar to us (the Kazon battle).

From JR on 2012-07-11 at 1:49am:I like how the "present" 29th century Braxton is arrested for something he might do in the future. That particular "future" Braxton did commit time crimes, but as we know from episodes like Parallels, STXI, etc, there are infinite possible futures.

Therefore, arresting "present" Braxton and merging him with that particular "future" Braxton seems kinda like punishing "present" Braxton for a thought-crime...or maybe a possible future thought-crime.

Anyway, I liked seeing Dutch from The Shield. It's interesting how certain actors get typecast. He was sort of a detective here, and will be again in at least two shows I recall.

From Mitch89 on 2013-03-24 at 6:30pm:I found Carey's chat with Seven in engineering somewhat amusing, considering he's married with children!

From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-06-29 at 4:50pm:I’m with JR; it’s highly disturbing that Braxton would be arrested for a crime he has not yet committed nor even has the present intent to commit! For all the federation’s claims of enlightenment, this is the kind of draconian future they have to look forward to? And no one in-universe is troubled by this?

From Dstyle on 2015-07-16 at 3:55pm:I don't mind a good time travel episode--really, I don't--but I wish I din't always have to turn off the part of my brain that processing things intelligently and logically in order to enjoy it. Seriously, every Star Trek time travel episode always seems to have one character who is grappling sophomorically with the whole thing, trying to spell it out simply for the folks at home, and someone usually tells that character something to the effect of, "It's best if you just don't think too hard on it." This episode was FULL of "just don't think too hard about it" moments. This episode was just a mess. Probably one of the weakest time travel episodes I've seen, honestly.

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Remarkable Scenes
- The AI commandeering the doctor's program.
- Harry trying to reason with the AI.
- The scene with the guy offering to save Voyager in exchange for the weapon. Janeway sticks to her principles. Hard choice.
- Harry and Torres discovering that the war the warheads were fighting is over.
- Seven of Nine's futile attempt to disarm the weapon.
- Harry convincing the bomb not to complete its mission.
- The bomb: "I am simply completing my mission. Only the target has changed."
- Harry: "I held you up as an example of how an artificial intelligence could exceed its programming. I didn't realize how true that was until today."

My Review
A combination of TNG: Lower Decks, showing us Harry doing a superb job commanding the night crew, TNG: The Quality of Life showing us the doctor's struggle for sentient AI's rights to be observed, and Voy: Dreadnought showing us another devious smart bomb. But not just any smart bomb. This bomb has achieved a true sentience. It takes a while for Harry and Torres to realize and convince the bomb that its war is over and it needs to stand down, but once they do convince it, the bomb sacrifices itself to stop the unenlightened others from committing atrocity. It's ironic that in TNG: The Quality of Life an Exocomp sacrificed itself to save the others whereas in this episode the bomb sacrificed itself to destroy the others. Both sacrifices in the interest of saving as many lives as possible. The parallel is very effective; I wonder if it was intentional? Overall, a very successful episode.

Fan Commentary (3)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From Wes on 2010-06-01 at 3:39pm:Where's Tuvok for most of this episode? There were a lot of instances where he would have something logical to say, but he wasn't there to say it.

From Rick on 2013-04-07 at 12:27am:Wait, so now WMDs have a right to survive? So apparently the way to defeat the federation is to make all of your weapons smart enough so that they wont destroy them. Voyager continues to get more and more annoying as the show goes on. Yes, we get it, Torres has anger problems. Yes, we get it harry sucks with the ladies and sucks up to the higher ranks. Yes, we get it, the doctor thinks everything with a frickin circuit board has rights. And of course, Seven is emotionally damaged. Oh yeah, and chakotay is native american, lets reinforce that in every episode he does. Basically, most every episode that Voyager does where they focus on one character are useless. cast works well as an ensemble though, as long as the writers use them that way.

From Hugo on 2015-02-07 at 4:26pm:Is it just me that found the bomb's change of mind at the end went too quick and easy?

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Problems
- The enhancements done to the Equinox engines were a lot better than the claimed 0.03% boost. The speeds they were reaching were closer to transwarp or quantum slipstream.

Factoids
- The Equinox is a Nova class starship designed for planetary research.
- Borg species designation: 6291, Yridian. The Borg believe them to be extinct. But Captain Ransom made a second first contact with the Yridians after both the Borg and the Federation determined their extinction.

My Review
On one hand, this is a great episode. I loved seeing another Federation ship in the Delta quadrant! But on the other hand, this episode gets a lot of stuff wrong. The science behind the Equinox' new warp drive is a bit fuzzy, Ransom and crew's behavior is downright traitorous, and Janeway's initial "evacuate everyone off the Equinox" approach was flawed. The episode would have been a lot better if Voyager had helped to restore the Equinox instead of demanding it be abandoned. I personally wouldn't have minded seeing the Equinox and her crew make regular guest appearances on the show in season six. But given the events of this episode, it seems to me Ransom has burned his bridges with Voyager. The ship is probably either going to make it to the alpha quadrant or be destroyed. Given that Seven of Nine is aboard, Voyager will probably track it to get Seven back, and then destroy it to stop Ransom. I must say, I'm pretty underwhelmed with this cliffhanger. It's pretty obvious Janeway isn't going to die and that the Equinox will be tracked down in order to retrieve Seven. Main characters just don't die like this.

Fan Commentary (1)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

From DH on 2008-02-29 at 6:47am:I like Voyager, but this beaming through shields annoys me everytime!

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